How To Tell Him
by LoudAutomata16
Summary: When Girl Jordan throws another one of her big parties, Lincoln doesn't suspect she has other plans. Plans that follow them months after the fact... (Cover Art by Bmack)
1. Chapter 1

****For the longest time, I've been wanting to write more Girl Jordan. Something beyond a one-shot series. So, in collaboration with Bmack (who designed this cover and helped with the story prompt), I bring you ******_**How to Tell Him, A Jordcoln (or Jordancoln, if you're basic and you know it) Story.**_**

* * *

Whenever Girl Jordan announced that she was about to throw one of her famous parties, it would quickly spread amongst the students and become the talk of the whole school. It was a law of nature, much like gravity and entropy, and it stayed consistent, regardless of the year. She had been throwing these parties since elementary school, and even now in high school they generated buzz.

"Oh man, I really hope I get invited."

"I heard last year there was a fire-breathing bear!"

"Will there be booze? I hope there's booze."

There was, of course, one boy who didn't pay much attention to the hype. Lincoln Loud, seventeen years old and nearing the end of his junior year, was just telling his longtime best friend Clyde McBride exactly that. "Sorry, Clyde. Guess I just wasn't paying attention. It's cool she's having a party, but I don't know if I'll go."

"How can you not?!" his exasperated friend asked, flailing his arms around dramatically. "It's the biggest event of the year! Everyone will be there. Well, everyone cool, that is. Chandler will be there, Stella will be there… Girl Jordan is hosting, so you know it'll be good. How are you this disinterested?"

"In my defense, I did just have a huge headache of a chemistry exam," Lincoln grumbled as he opened his locker and stuffed one of his textbooks in. He reached for another and pulled it out, placed it under his armpit, and closed his locker. "I don't really have time to worry about upcoming events. Plus, Girl Jordan always invites me herself, so I'd have learned about it eventually."

And right on cue, just as she had done many times before, Girl Jordan approached by the young man's locker, flanked on either side by Mollie and Gabby (look her up). "Hey, Lincoln," she said, giving the white haired boy a friendly wave.

"Hey, Girl Jordan. Funny you should drop by just now, because me and Clyde were just talking about you. You're throwing another party, right?"

Girl Jordan nodded. "Funny you should mention that, because that's why I'm here right now."

"__Told you__," Lincoln whispered into Clyde's ear, before coughing to raise his tone back to normal. "What about it? Are you here to tell me that I need to do all of Mollie's homework in exchange for letting me go, because she's faaaaaaaaaailing?" he asked with a mocking grin aimed at Mollie's direction. She growled and flashed him the bird, but Girl Jordan just laughed.

"Just the first part. Um… the part where I invite you to come, that is," Girl Jordan said, reaching into her dress' pocket to put out two tickets, handing one each to Lincoln and Clyde. She, truthfully, never liked the ticket system, but it was necessary after the… 'Dog Eat Dog' incident. Who knew one guy bringing his German Shepherd could lead to the complete annihilation of a concrete swimming pool? There had to be protective measures after that fiasco.

"Great," Lincoln said, taking the ticket. "I'll try to be there."

"Try?"

"Well, you know… ever since all my older sisters moved out, I've kinda had to watch over all my younger sisters. Help them out and stuff. I mean, I'll try to see if Lucy can give me a hand then, but if not… well, I don't trust Lisa and the twins with Lily. Not after last time."

"What happened last time?" Gabby asked curiously.

"Let's just say the Tooth Fairy gave Lily enough money to start a small business," Lincoln said grimly.

"I get it," Girl Jordan started. "But if there's even the slightest chance you can show up, please take it. I really want to see you there."

God, her amber eyes were wide and begging, like a cute little puppy dog's pupils. How was Lincoln supposed to resist?

"I'll… I'll try," said Lincoln, waving his ticket once over his snowy head before stuffing it in his shirt's pocket. "Thanks for the invite, Girl Jordan. See you Saturday night."

"Alright, see you then," she said, waving him off as he and Clyde marched down the hall. When the two young men were completely out of earshot, she tucker her hand into her other one, pressing them both to her chest. "I love you," she murmured, so faintly that even Mollie and Gabby by her side could barely hear her. Of course, they still did, and they turned to look at her.

"You know, all of this would be so much easier if you just told him you liked him and took him to Burger King or something," Mollie told her as she rolled her eyes.

"There's no way he'd go for a date at Burger King," Girl Jordan responded.

"Why not? Despite the hairless baby cheeks and lack of muscles, he is still a guy. Guys love fast food!"

"Well, I think that's not romantic enough," Girl Jordan crossed her arms angrily. "Besides, we already got the party going. It'll be fun for everyone."

"But the only reason you're having this party is because you want to confess to him then. It's a waste of money, is all I'm saying."

"There is no wasting money when it comes to true love," Girl Jordan sighed, red hearts popping in her eyes. Mollie shrugged at Gabby; neither of them could really see what she saw in him. Lincoln was a pretty average guy in their eyes. He wasn't as strong as a jock, smart as a geek, wealthy as a prep, cool as a bad boy, artsy as a goth or even just as funny as one of clown kids (when they weren't miming, that is). Girl Jordan usually had good taste in everything. So why him?

And then Mollie remembered that she didn't really care.

* * *

"Lucy, can I talk to you when we get home?"

Lucy wasn't really paying attention to him, despite how close they were sitting in the van. She was simply staring out the half-open window of Vanzilla's shotgun seat, sighing to herself as she watched the other cars go by. Her brain was in the clouds, and it took Lincoln tapping on her shoulder to bring her back down to Earth. "Hey, Luce, you with me?"

"Sigh. What is it?"

"I asked you if I could talk to you when we get home," Lincoln repeated, turning his eyes back to the road. "I need to ask you for a favor, and I'd rather not have you surprise me with some conflict of interest because you have some appointment at a poetry slam or something."

"Sure, we can talk," Lucy responded in her gravelly tone.

"Great. Right now I need to talk to some other kids," Lincoln growled, looking into his rear-view mirror at his younger sisters. As Lucy mumbled to herself that she shouldn't be called a kid, Lincoln barked "Lana! Lisa! What are you two doing?"

"She's trying to take my frog!"

"It's for science, Lana! Within this amphibian's cells, I can find the cure for a wide range of diseases!"

"Can you find the cure for your lisp? You're spitting all over me," Lola complained as she filed her nails in between the feuding sisters.

"Guys, stop fighting. Lincoln can't focus if you're all fighting," said young Lily in the seat behind them, like the little angel she was.

"Thank you, Lily," Lincoln thanked tearfully, before regaining his sterner look. "Now Lisa, give Lana her frog back. If you really need to torture an animal that badly, you can steal one from the pond at the park."

"Glad to see you're being a responsible supervisor," Lucy snorted sarcastically. If her eyes were visible, they would have been rolling.

"Fine, fine, very well. I'll relinquish the animal," Lisa admitted defeat, giving Lana her green frog.

Lincoln lay his head back, and took a deep breath, before a small smile sprouted on his lips. The family dynamic had shifted over the years, obviously, with the departure of each of the older sisters. They all went off to find different paths, but no matter what, they did stick together. Currently, Leni was living with Lori and Bobby, who, as they had informed Lincoln and the others a few weeks back, were finally expecting! Lincoln was happy for them, but nowhere near as happy as Leni, who quickly began knitting clothes for Lori's upcoming child. As for Luna, Luan and Lynn, they still lived together. They roomed in the same apartment, as Luna and Lynn attended college while Luan turned her small clowning business into a money-making machine. It wasn't much, but Luan had hopes.

And with Lynn's departure, Lincoln was left in charge, and he found himself acting a lot like Lori. He finally understood what it felt like to be the one driving everyone home from school, and just how precious quiet was when he did. And technically, he had it easier. She had to drive __everyone __home from school. And in the end, things really didn't change much. Lucy still sighed, the twins still fought, Lisa still crossed the line of scientific ethics, and Lily still… existed.

Okay, maybe she was the one thing that changed a lot about their family life.

Rolling into the driveway of their home, everyone but Lincoln and Lucy sprang out of the car and rushed inside for lunch. As Lincoln unbuckled his seat belt, he noticed Lucy hadn't been wearing her's when she just opened the door and got out. In his defense, she did wear all black. "You know you should really wear your seat belt. It might save your life one day."

"I know. That's why I don't."

Lincoln's eyes widened with shock, and Lucy smiled slyly. "Relax. I'm kidding. I just forgot this time."

"Yeah, okay."

"Well, I doubt that you wanted to speak to me about car safety."

"Okay, here's the thing; over the weekend, Girl Jordan's going to be throwing a huge rager for all the kids in high school with tickets. Like me. And, since I know you won't be going to that party because you hate the music they play..."

"I hate the people that go."

"Right. Anyways… I'm just wondering if I can trust you to stay home and watch over everyone else. Mom and Dad probably won't let me go if you're not around."

"I'd love to watch over our sisters, Lincoln, but I was supposed to meet up with Silas on Saturday night for our weekend graveyard stroll. I might be willing to cancel on him, though… if..."

"If what?"

The grin on her face widened, revealing her sharp canines. They were the spitting image of vampire fangs, and Lincoln wondered if she had been sharpening them herself.

"...If you'll clean out the bat guano in my room for the whole summer."

"What?! No, that's gross."

Lucy shrugged. "Guess you'll be staying home with our siblings. It's not all that bad. You can probably film yourself traumatically pranking them and get millions of views for it."

"Come on, Luce. I really need to go!"

"Why? Why are you so desperate to attend a sweat-fest party where people don't even wear masquerade masks? Unless… this isn't about the party itself. Maybe it's about the girl running it..."

Lincoln's cheeks reddened. "I don't know what you mean."

"Lincoln and Jordan, sitting in a tree," Lucy sang in her monotone voice, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes the eternal sealing of one's soul in a coffin…"

"I-It's not like that! Especially that last part. Me and her are just friends!" he insisted.

"Are you sure? You two are awfully… friendly, for friends."

"I… I..."

Truthfully, Lincoln couldn't deny everything Lucy had said. He had been especially prone to crushes in his younger days. He had developed feelings for nearly every girl in his school… and it was indeed __every. __Ms. DiMartino is very unf.

But while his feelings for other girls tended to fade with time, or with specific events driving a wedge through them (he still missed Ronnie Anne), his feelings for Girl Jordan were a little different. They weren't as burning or intense, which was why he never went goo-goo-gah-gah for him in any visible way, but there was something lasting about them. He really couldn't explain it if he wanted to.

A cool hand touched his burning cheek, and Lincoln looked up to see Lucy smiling softly at him. "I can tell this matters a lot to you, for 'whatever reason'," she told him, "So I'll change the deal a little. Just do my chores and homework for a week, and we'll call it even."

"Thank you, Luce," he hugged her tightly, choking the goth. "This means so much to me. I promise I'll do the best job I can with your chores."

"Gr-great. Now let me go!"

"Whoops, sorry," he chuckled, letting her go. Lucy gasped for air, spinning around to him as she nursed her windpipe.

"Lynn's hugs weren't as deadly."

As the girl in black went inside, Lincoln smiled to himself. He put his hands flat on his hips, digging his fingers into his pocket. He didn't know what the future held for him, but one thing was for sure… he was going to that party!

He cheered loudly, tossing his hands in the air and falling into the grass with bursting laughter. He rolled around, as happy as could be… until Mr. Grouse stuck his head out the window and screamed "Loud! Stop being so loud!"

"Sorry, Mr. Grouse," the teen shouted back. That didn't put a damper on his mood, though. He was still going to that party. As far as he was concerned, a swarm of pigeons could all dive bomb him with their little white shits and he would still be grinning like a madman. Of course, he didn't want to risk it, so he ran inside. He was pretty hungry for lunch, too.

* * *

Saturday could not have come fast enough. But when it finally did, Lincoln and Clyde walked their way to Girl Jordan's large home, both extremely excited for the night to come.

"I can't wait for this party, dude!" Clyde shouted with his trembling fists balled. "It's going to be so awesome! Who knows, we might even score with some girls!"

"Aren't you dating Penelope?"

Clyde grinned. "Well, we know I'm going to score for sure. She was invited to the party, right?" Lincoln nodded, and Clyde repeated "Yep, we know I'm going to score with my girl. So what about you? You have any girl you plan to go after? Or guy, I guess."

"Nope. Haven't really thought about it," Lincoln said. He was lying, and Clyde knew it. But the African American wisely decided not to push him on it. Not that he really could have, because at that moment they arrived at the entrance to Girl Jordan's party. The walls were high, preventing them from seeing much, but the sounds they heard enticed them. They could hear loud hip-hop blaring, their classmates laughing and screaming, and loud dives into the pool. They were beyond excited to get inside, and who should greet them at the door besides the woman of the hour herself…

"Hey guys, glad you made it," Girl Jordan chirped as the two approached a small line. She took the tickets of Haiku and Chandler in front of them, before she swiped their tickets. "Hope you two have fun."

"Thanks, Girl Jordan. Just one question… is the fruit punch spiked?"

"We have two bowls. One spiked, one not."

Clyde let out a sigh of relief, before tapping his friend's shoulder. "Well, see you inside, Linc. I'll be looking for Penelope now."

"Sure thing, bud," Lincoln said as he watched his bespectacled friend run off. He was ready to enter as well, before he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He turned to Girl Jordan, who shyly smiled at him.

"I… I'm really glad to see you here, Lincoln," she said softly. A light blush bloomed on her face, and her other hand reached up to her hair and began twirling it around her finger. Lincoln smiled at her and nodded. "I'm glad I could make it."

He stepped inside, and Girl Jordan watched him go.

__Alright, Phase One of getting him here… check! Now onto Phase Two… muahahahahahahaha…__

* * *

****Yep, crazy Jordan thoughts are back. I'll never stop enjoying writing them.****


	2. Chapter 2

**1049: I don't know. It all depends on what the magic 8-ball I use to come up with these story-lines tells me.**

**JMbuilder: Girl Jordan X Lincoln tends to be more popular in artist circles, but there are many writers who've taken it on, both on this site and others. And thanks, glad you liked it.**

**heavy5comando: No, **_**you **_**rock**

**Also, I just realized this is my 50****th**** story… that's pretty neat. I'd say something like 'Here's to another 50' but we all know that's not going to happen. I'm too lazy and dumb to make it to 100. Lmao**

* * *

Before the first guest had even arrived, Girl Jordan was busy triple-checking the premises, to ensure everything was perfect for the party she had planned. She had a reputation to uphold, after all. If she messed up one year, her title as 'The Queen of Parties' would be up for grabs, and she knew there were many kids (re: Cristina) hungrily keeping their eyes fixed on her crown. So when she lightly tapped the popcorn machine and it broke to pieces, she nearly broke apart with it.

"Calm down, it's alright," Gabby said to Girl Jordan as she directed Mollie to pick the machine back up. "You've still got an awesome thing going here. Someone'll just fix this thing up and..."

"The popcorn maker is just the start!" Girl Jordan declared dramatically. "What else isn't working right? The pool jets? The speakers? Does my punch secretly taste horrible? ANSWER ME!"

"Girl, relax. These are the kind of kids with Tide-Pod based diets, they'll eat or drink anything."

"So the punch does suck. I knew it," Girl Jordan whined dejectedly.

"It's… fine, I guess. What it really needs is an _extra ingredient, _if you get what I'm saying."

"I can't put alcohol in the punch. Clyde is too straight-laced, Omar can't drink for religious reasons, Frank is recovering from a bad addiction..."

"I'll make two bowls. And I'll label them," Mollie stated, rushing into the house to grab another punch bowl. When she left, Gabby put her hand on Girl Jordan's shoulder.

"This isn't about popcorn, is it?"

"Probably not," Girl Jordan admitted, brushing Gabby's hand off. She turned around, her elegantly tied braid swishing with her as she moved, and the brunette shuddered as she let out a visible sigh. She wanted to dance around the issue, but felt that this wasn't the time. Besides, she could place her trust in Gabby. She was kind, and could keep a secret.

_And if she doesn't keep a secret, then she's not inviting to my wedding with Lincoln, and she'll never get to visit our fifteen children._

"Okay, the truth is that I'm just really nervous about… the moment. I want to tell Lincoln everything at this party. I want to tell him about the crush I've had on him for a long time, and I want to tell him about how much I treasure him and care for him and all that. And, call me crazy and unrealistic, but I want everything to be perfect when I do. The lights, the sound, the place… everything is absolutely perfect when I picture it in my head. And… and I want it to be that way tonight."

"Well, I know that's how you want it to be, but I know you're also smart enough to realize that you, er, can't really have that," Gabby shrugged her nimble shoulders.

"I know. But I can try."

Gabby opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it. Technically, Girl Jordan wasn't wrong. She could try, and maybe somehow succeed. Gabby didn't really know how she could say otherwise. Instead, she shrugged again and turned around gracefully, picking up a bag of Doritos of the floor and ripping it open. While she was busy spilling the ranch flavored insides into a small bowl on the table, Girl Jordan turned and walked away. She put her hand on her chin as she thought about what Gabby had said to her.

"She's wrong," Girl Jordan concluded. "I can totally do it. I don't care how much money I have to spend, I can make this night as close to perfect as possible."

A large excess of resources would do that to a person. Make them believe they're on top of the world. Girl Jordan, as smart she was, fell into the same trap. Maybe it didn't matter at all, considering that she was about to throw the grandest party ever. Or maybe it did matter a lot…

As Girl Jordan reached down into her purse, fishing around for some more money, her hand snagged on a thin sheet of plastic, wrapped around something circular. Her curved finger circled around it, tracing the texture on her fingertip, before she remembered what it was. Her hand came out of her purse, and the object came out with it. It was a red wrapper, one of many in her purse, and inside it was… was…

Girl Jordan gulped before she let the name of the object escape her lips. "A condom."

She had plans for the night, after all.

Plans to make sure everything was absolutely perfect.

* * *

"Hey, Girl Jordan. Earth to Girl Jordan. Are you there, Girl Jordan? It's me, Mollie."

"Hm? What?"

The host of the party shook her head, and turned to her friend Mollie, who was holding an empty cup. She, shamefully, realized that she had been having a flashback daydream, and her cheeks pinkened when she realized that her flashback had ended with thoughts about condoms.

"We're out of soda," Mollie told her, turning her cup upside down for a few drops of clear sugar water to drip out. "There's another bottle in the fridge. Were we supposed to touch that, or…?"

"No, don't touch that. It's my dad's soda."

Mollie grit her teeth, and hissed. "Ooh… whoops."

Girl Jordan narrowed her eyes at Mollie, who quickly put on a sheepish grin and hid her plastic cup behind her back. "Mollie, did someone touch my dad's soda?"

"What? No, I'm just asking because… because Tabby wanted to know… about it..."

"Mollie, did _you_ drink any of it?"

"I have to go to the little girl's room now."

Her friend scampered off into the crowd, and Girl Jordan scowled. She ran her fingers over her eyelids, rubbing them for comfort. "It's okay, it's okay," she repeated to herself like a mantra of growing madness. "I'll just get Dad another one. Even if that was a foreign soda from Europe. I'll search around the fusion places before he gets back from his business trips."

_One of his many business trips._

Girl Jordan groaned. "Yep. One of his many business trips. And if you'll excuse me, brain, I need to go distract myself by talking to people before I get depressed thinking about it."

_k_

She went near the pool, and saw the great writhing mass of limbs and heads all stuffed inside her pool. They poked out painfully, and most of her peers were pushing and shouting at each other. Girl Jordan grit her teeth. Didn't they know there was a maximum occupancy for such an enclosed space. She considered ordering some people to get out of the water, but upon further looking, it was kinda funny watching everyone bump around. Plus, they had a beach ball flying around above their heads. At least some of them were having fun.

She turned without looking, and bumped into a slightly shorter girl. Her mouth filled with long black hair, which Girl Jordan spat out and immediately began apologizing. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry Haiku."

Haiku looked at her with her single exposed eye, and it was clearly disinterested. That wasn't saying much, considering how much it always looked disinterested. "Is no problem, mademoiselle. Accidents happen, no?"

"They do, yeah. Um… Haiku, since when did you speak in that accent? Were you French this whole time?"

"Non," Haiku said, even though she had just used 'no' earlier. "I am, how you say, learning the languages of Romancia, or Romance tongues. Espanol, Italiano, uh..."

"Romanian?" Girl Jordan offered.

"Yes, and of course, French."

"Right, but you're not really talking French, you're just speaking English in a weird accent. And you know, now that I think about it, why are you even learning all these languages anyways?"

Haiku went silent, almost theatrically so. She then said, "I hope that wit every Romance word I learn, I come closer to finding romance in my own life."

"Oh… that's what this is about. Well, uh, you know you shouldn't let me get in the way of that. I'm sure you'll impress someone with your… French..."

"You think so?" Haiku asked, flashing a quick, hopeful smile.

"I know you will," Girl Jordan nodded kindly. The Goth seemed pleased with her answer, and excused herself to wander amongst the crowd, emboldened by Girl Jordan's words. She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head lightly. "I swear, every time I catch up with Haiku, she's acting more and more like a Tim Burton character."

"That's the guy who did the movie with the monkeys, right?"

"Amongst other, better projects, yeah," Girl Jordan said, spinning around to spy none other than the infamous Chandler, taking a sip from a cup of punch that she had no doubt was from the spiked bowl. Chandler had a developed bit of a reputation as a substance abuser, but she honestly couldn't see it on him. The guy looked healthier than most clean people. He had muscles, a good tan, and his eyes were only slightly red.

The redhead took a sip from the cup, before crushing it on his forehead and tossing it on the grass. "Nice gig you got going here," he complimented in a rusty voice born from his smoking habit. "I probably could've thrown a better one, but whatever."

"And what's so wrong with this one?" Girl Jordan asked coolly.

"Chill, chill, I'm just throwing around my swagger," he chuckled nervously. "You got a good thing going here. The only reason people like my shit is because I actually throw my parties in actual shit."

Girl Jordan giggled. "Well, at least it's a creative locale."

"Well, if you like creativity, I have been writing a few poems lately..."

_Oh God, no, please, not his stoner poems again._

Chandler, the holistic chap that he was, decided that rather than spend his time sober wallowing around on his bed or gobbling down vast sums of munchies, he wanted to spend that spare time working in the creative arts. Poetry was his latest endeavor, but much like writing short stories and painting, he wasn't really good at it. Also, his poems usually revolved around his hard experiences growing up… the ones everyone knew he didn't actually have.

"Listen, I'd love to listen to you recite something for me," Girl Jordan stopped his hand as it reached into his pocket, "but I'm really busy right now, and I'm also looking for someone. Have you seen Lincoln somewhere?"

"Lincoln? Oh yeah, he was talking with Paige..."

For a single, fleeting flash of a second, Girl Jordan imagined burying Paige alive.

"… but then he went off to find Clyde for something. And last time I saw Clyde, he was hanging out on the porch with Penelope, so Linc's probably there."

"Alright, thanks Chandler. I'll go find Lincoln before _Paige _does."

"No problem," Chandler muttered. Girl Jordan happily stepped away from him, disappearing into the hefty crowd of teenagers. When Chandler was sure she couldn't see him anymore, he whipped out a lighter and a 'cigarette' and started hitting that doob like Wiz Khalifa.

Girl Jordan made her way across the house, stopping on her way to yell at two of her friends for bothering the stray cat that her family usually left food out for, and got to the porch. She found Clyde sitting with his girlfriend Penelope, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. But there was no Lincoln, sitting there like a third wheel, so Girl Jordan walked up to them and said "Hey, Clyde. Hey, Penelope. Have either of you seen Lincoln?"

"You just missed him," Penelope said, pointing at the open door behind her. "He went inside for some snacks."

"Thanks, Penelope."

When Girl Jordan stepped inside, she closed the door behind her, so Penelope looked at Clyde and smirked. "She's completely head over heels in love with him, huh?"

"It's obvious to everyone except Lincoln. For a guy that falls in love so much, he really has a hard time noticing it," Clyde chuckled. "**I'm so glad that whenever I look at him, I feel so much more secure in my manliness."**

Speaking of the young man himself, he sneezed into his hand just before he reached for a snack. "Dang it. Now I have to go wash them," he complained. He grabbed a tissue to wipe his palm as he went up the stairs to the bathroom, and just as he left, a frantic Girl Jordan barged into the scene.

"Have either of you seen Lincoln?" she asked Tabby and Polly Pain, who both pointed towards the upper floor. Girl Jordan let out a slew of annoyed curses under her breath, before she clocked out of the kitchen to run up the stairs.

Lincoln heard someone stamping their feet loudly down the hall, so once he was done wiping his wet, cleaned hands with a tissue, he braved a look outside, peeking his head out of the bathroom door…

Where he was met with Girl Jordan's chest smacking him in the face.

"GAAH!" he yelled as he fell to the floor. Girl Jordan cringed when she realized she knocked the guy she was looking for down to the floor, but then cringed even harder when she felt the stinging on her breasts and realized that she had smacked him down with her boobs. Her face reddened painfully, and she quickly flipped into apology mode.

"Oh my God, Lincoln, I'm so sorry," she said, reaching down to give him a hand. Lincoln took it, and she helped him to his feet.

She also took note of how nice his hands felt. Smooth, but not too soft.

"It's alright, I shouldn't have got in your way. I mean, I heard the running, so I was the stupid guy that pushed his head out..."

"Let's just call it even. I was looking for you anyways, so this is good."

"You were looking for me? Oh, uh, what's up?" Lincoln asked.

"I… uh…"

_You didn't even think of what you were going to say to him when you found him?_

_Shut up, shut up, give me a second._

"I, um, just wanted to ask… if you were enjoying the party. Yeah, heh heh, I've been asking everyone that and you're last on my list. Yeah. Totally..."

Lincoln didn't notice the obvious lie, and nodded his head with a smile. "I've been having fun. It's a really nice party you have going here."

"Y-You really think so?" Girl Jordan blushed, preening some hair away from her face.

"I do, yeah. I was about to grab some snacks before I sneezed into my hand like a jackass. Wanna join me?"

_He's already inviting me to a romantic dinner EEEEEE!_

A romantic dinner was usually a special occasion, in which a man invites the girl he loves to either a high-class dining establishment or a meal which he prepared himself. It often involved the finest meats, cooked or grilled to perfection, as well as the freshest of green vegetables, and a small glass of sparkling water or wine. The point is that only Girl Jordan, in the absolute peak height of her mania, could convince herself that grabbing cheese-flavored crackers out of a bowl and washing it down with warm juice could count as a romantic dinner. But as long as she was happy with her delusion, did it really matter?

"Cheers," Lincoln muttered, tapping his cup against Jordan's and drinking his punch in one large gulp. "I've always wanted to ask you something, Girl Jordan, and I hope you don't mind..."

_Yes, Lincoln, I will marry you!_

"Ask away," Girl Jordan replied casually.

"I've always wondered what your parents think of these parties you throw. Like, they must cost a lot of money, and they leave a huge mess and make a lot of noise, so do you ever get in trouble for them?"

"Maybe I would if they noticed," Girl Jordan said with a sad sigh. "Money isn't really a problem. My family is rich, but we're… distant, I guess."

"Oh… sorry to hear that."

"It's fine. Just a fact of life. My parents are always away on some trips or whatever, going from meeting to meeting. They send me back some cool stuff, though, and more money than I could reasonably spend. I just… well, it must be a lot different in your family."

"Yeah, our house used to be bustling with people. Thirteen plus the hundreds of pets we had lying around. That's not even an exaggeration, Lana had these colonies of bugs and they were everywhere," Lincoln chuckled, before his face went more solemn. "But after all my older sisters moved out, it's been more quiet. It's not lonely, I still have my parents and my little sisters, but… I guess I miss being forced to carry music equipment and modeling for fashion design. Hell, I even miss the April Fools' now."

"Sounds like we both got family we wish we had around more."

"I think it helps to remember that they love us, no matter what the distance is."

"You're right," she said, suddenly smiling. "Maybe I'll give one of them a call after everyone leaves."

"Same. Been a long time since Lynn's had the chance to call me Stinkoln."

The two went silent for a moment, before Lincoln swirled his cup in hand and awkwardly laughed. "Sorry, I took us down a really serious path for a second."

"Oh no, no, don't worry about it. Hey, at least we gave each other a little solution to our problems. If you want to talk about something lighter… well, do you have any hobbies? Biking? Music? _Writingromanticpoetrythatsweepsgirlslikemeofourfeet_?"

"What was that last one?"

"I said biking."

Lincoln rubbed his chin for a moment in thought. "I guess there is one thing I like doing… but nah, I shouldn't tell. You'll think it's stupid."

"Try me," Girl Jordan confidently replied.

"Alright. So, uh, I don't think that you'd be into this kind of stuff, but… well, you know Ace Savvy comics, right?"

"Are you kidding me? I love Ace Savvy comics!"

Lincoln blinked his eyes in surprise, and then he blushed. "Well, um… I do that."

"What do you mean you do that? Do you… wait, are you saying that you _draw _your own comics?"

"Draw and write some fancomics, yeah. It's a small thing I do really, and I know it's pretty nerdy, so I don't know why I'm telling you any of this… probably my inhibitions going away because of the punch."

"You're fine, you only took a little bit. And Lincoln, seriously, it's not as dumb as you think. It's dorky, yeah, but I actually think that's pretty interesting."

"You don't have to pretend to like it. I know a girl like you wouldn't care for my nerd shit," Lincoln chuckled, rummaging his hand through the hairs on the back of his head. Oddly enough, Girl Jordan didn't seem to immediately confirm or deny what he said. She put on a thoughtful look, scratching her head in deep concentration. Looking at her, Lincoln took a moment to admire her attractiveness in thought. Most girls acted stupider to bag a guy, but Girl Jordan never behaved that way. She was proud of what was inside her head, and it gave off an aura of perfection.

Plus, the way her finger twirled around in her brown hair was cute.

"Alright," she said suddenly, snapping Lincoln out of his momentary stupor. She put her hand on his back, grinning as she felt the mass of muscle underneath her palm, and started leading him towards a room down the hall. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"My room. I want to show you something."

Lincoln gulped, and his throat bobbed. He wanted to ask what kind of thing, but that would've been inappropriate.

The door was tightly locked, to keep anyone from getting inside and messing with her stuff. Before she did anything, Girl Jordan pulled out her phone and quickly dialed a number with a flash of her thumb. She pressed the phone on her cheek and said "Mollie, it's me. I'm going to be distracted for a while, so you're in charge of keeping things in order. Keep the snacks stacked, make sure no one shits on the lawn, and take a few pictures of the best scenes. I wanna show them to Cristina and tell her to suck it."

Mollie responded, and then Girl Jordan closed her phone. "What did Mollie say?" Lincoln asked curiously.

"She said, 'I'm already the one keeping things in order,'" Girl Jordan answered as she fumbled around for the key to her room. Her fingers finally closed around the long metal object, and she pulled it out and stuffed it in the door's keyhole. Down the hall, the duo heard someone whistle and catcall at them, and the two teens blushed as they stepped inside.

"Hold on, I just need to find it," she said, skirting off to look for what she needed. In the meanwhile, Lincoln looked around her room, and he was instantly impressed with what he saw.

It was a plain room, really. He was pretty sure his sisters had more wild room designs, because all she really had was a large bed supported by a frame of plain wood, some drawn curtains with a green floral pattern decorating the fabric, a few pictures hanging on the wall of her and her family, a desk for her computer, and a pile of boxes on the side of the room. Those caught Lincoln's eye, as written on the cardboard in bold marker was 'Stuff from Fam'.

He bent over them, opening on the boxes on top, and his eyes danced over a large selection of foreign memorabilia. "Hey, Jordan, do you mind if I look at these?" he asked.

"You can take one for all I care," she grumbled as she shuffled through a large file of papers.

He beamed lightly, and reached inside to grab some of the objects. There was no geographical theme to any of it; he could see a golden necklace with a Russian Orthodox cross attached right besides a small voodoo totem from East Africa. It did tell him a lot, though; her parents moved around way more than he expected. Digging in further, he found gifts from even more regions of the world. Central America, Polynesia, Northern Europe, pretty much all the -istan countries. There were even presents from _North Korea. _

"She really wasn't lying," he whispered to himself. "They really are always away."

He cast a forlorn look in her direction, his lip sticking out slightly. He was suddenly overcome with immense sympathy for his friend. No parents, no siblings… maybe that's why she held these huge parties. She just needed someone to be in the house with her. As childishly boyish as it was, he felt the need to be the one there for her, spending time with her while her own flesh and blood were forced abroad to provide for each other.

"Man, capitalism is a bitch," he mumbled.

"Found it!" Girl Jordan cheered, pulling out several sheets of paper and tossing the rest of them on her desk. She sat down on her bed, her bottom pressing into the soft mattress, and she beckoned Lincoln to sit next to her. He tensed up lightly, and she blushed in response. "D-Do you prefer standing?" she asked shyly.

_Suck it up, Linc. Don't be a pansy._

He forced himself to sit down next to her on the bed, still a little on edge. Their arms pressed together as Girl Jordan scooted a little closer to him, to show him what she was holding. "Look," she said, a hint of reserved excitement in her tone. "Look at these and tell me if I don't care about the stuff you were talking about."

He took the stapled papers from her hand, and scanned them over. His eyes widened as he slowly realized what the words he was reading meant. His jaw dropped a little, and he looked back at Girl Jordan. She had a smug yet playful look on her face.

"Y-You… this is… you _write_ Savvyfics?"

"I do," she nodded. "I tried to draw some art for it too, but I'm really bad at it. But writing seems to be my skill."

"Sounds like the opposite of my problem. I can draw a pretty picture, but I suck with the actual plot. How… How many have you even written?"

Girl Jordan counted the number on her fingers. "Maybe fifty-ish. Not all of them are winners. But still, I have plenty I'm proud of. Like this one. _The Gal Who Lost It All. _Or this one called _Day and Night. _Or this one..."

She found a script titled _Peace or War Treaty. _She tossed that one away.

"Point is, me and you share the same interest. That's… that's pretty cool, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it actually is," Lincoln said, shuffling through the stories. "I… I honestly never thought I'd see a side of you like this. You always came off as… I don't know, you're better than all this."

"I'm not better than anything, Lincoln. An interest is an interest, whether it's in politics or pop culture."

_Besides, anything that you like is automatically the greatest piece of art in the whole world, Lincoln uwu_

She sat back as she watched Lincoln read her story, with a small smile on her face. This was the first time she had ever shown this to anyone else. There was no way she could share it with Stella or even her best friend Mollie, because those two would've found it weird. But with Lincoln, things were different. There was a comfortable air with him, like she didn't need to hide that much of herself. He was almost like the sibling she never had. Not in the gross way, of course. In the way that he was close to her heart, and her love for him went far, far beyond that of a love struck school girl. Even though she was one.

The air in the room changed, and Lincoln noticed, judging by the twitching of his nose. He sniffed the air, and he could smell the pleasant scent wafting from Girl Jordan's fresh hair. She must've showered right before the guests started arriving, because she smelled of citrus fruit. Or maybe she didn't need shampoo to smell like that, and she simply smelled amazing by virtue of nature.

The loud noises from downstairs and down the hall, though muffled by the door, distracted his reading process, and he eventually gave up. He rubbed his tired eyes, and gave Girl Jordan the papers back. "I was reading the one about Ace and the superhero girl… I liked it."

"That tends to be a lot of them. You'll have to be more specific," she smirked.

"The Jordanian one. The one who was rich and she didn't have anyone for her on her birthday when she was a kid, so Ace showed up from her. That was really cute."

"Oh yeah," Girl Jordan remembered with a blush. "That one."

"So I'm guessing it's just a coincidence that out of all the rich countries in the world, you chose the one you share a name with," Lincoln grinned.

"Oh, shut up," she laughed, giving him a hard shove. He playfully tapped her shoulder in return, which encouraged Girl Jordan to grab him by his shoulders and shove both him and herself on the mattress. Their heads bounced a little, and they both laughed. But the most important thing both of them noticed was the heat coming off their faces. Their cheeks radiated with steamy energy, and the heat they gave of was absorbed by the other's face, so close they were together. Girl Jordan swallowed nervously, and Lincoln's eyes widened.

"So, uh… this… this is a nice bed."

"It is."

"Blanket's soft."

"Real soft."

The two went silent, unable to force a conversation. Girl Jordan bit down on her bottom lip, and tried again at dialogue. "Um… Lincoln?"

"Yeah."

"Can I… can I ask you about love?"

"S-sure. A-ask away."

"Say there's a girl," Girl Jordan started, her eyes shimmering, "and she really likes a guy. But she doesn't know how he feels. What… what do you think she should do to see if he likes her back or not."

He wanted to look away. He wanted to look away from her, and maybe get up and just run out of the room and out of the house. But he couldn't. Her eyes were like hypnotic jewels, forcing him to stare into the ocean of beauty within. "Uh… I think she could tell him. Maybe word will decide. Or maybe… maybe she can do something drastic. Something that'll let him know for sure."

"You think so?"

"Depends on the guy," he breathed.

A flicker of a smile danced on her pink lips.

Then, without another word exchanged between him and her, she leaned in quickly and planted a kiss on his lips.

She kept her mouth there as Lincoln struggled for a moment, before he relaxed himself and gave in. His eyes closed as he fully returned their embrace, and they held on as long as they could before they had to resurface for air.

"W-Well, this has been fun," Lincoln stammered, shooting up out of bed and leaping towards the doorway. "But I think I better..."

"Lincoln, please stay."

Her voice was low, but it kept him in place like a spell. He looked back at her, her head drooped on her shoulder, and the yellow shirt she wore slowly falling off her other shoulder, revealing the bare skin underneath. His hand, trembling in front of the doorknob, returned to his side. Without a word, he went back to her side.

"Okay. I'm here."

She nervously reached into her pocket, and handed him a small red wrapper. "Are we really going to do this?" she asked.

"Do you want to?"

"More than you can believe," she said, pulling her shirt over her head and tossing it to the side. The sight of her lean body killed any hesitation inside Lincoln, and he took her hand.

For the rest of the night, the room was filled with sounds of a creaking bed, and two young lovers moaning.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, I'm seeing a lot of people saying this story should've been rated M. The ending of the last chapter had the barest minimum of sexual reference, in my opinion, so I'm not really going to mark up the rating for that. If you guys keep saying that, I'm going to tell the teacher. My Dad works for FFN he can ban you**

* * *

Hot air periodically touched the side of her face, as if the pointed finger of a warm phantom was poking her cheek. Girl Jordan's eyelids fluttered open at the disturbance, and an almost inaudible groan escaped her lips. For a moment, she could see nothing but blurry colors. It took her a few seconds to adjust. When she was finally able to see again, she turned her head to see where that air was coming from.

That's when she saw a half-naked Lincoln in her bed, sleeping on his exposed stomach.

She flinched back nervously until everything about last night hit her like a freight train. The party… the scripts… the _sex._

Still, out of pure surprise and instinct, Girl Jordan shot out of bed and screamed.

"GAAH!" Lincoln yelled as he shot up as well, his eyes red and tired. Girl Jordan used her hands to cover up her privates and breasts, and Lincoln blushed at the sight, last night coming back to him as well. "Oh yeah… we, uh… did that… together..."

"Yeah, we did. Right," she said.

There was a moment of awkward silence, before Lincoln slid off the bed and reached for his briefs, covering himself and offering the blanket to Girl Jordan, who wrapped it around her supple body. It was only then that she realized how sore some of her joints felt, and how her inner thighs seemed to sting and tingle, as did the sides of her neck.

_Wow, we were rough last night. Rawr._

"So, uh… yeah," Lincoln muttered. He clearly didn't know what to say now. His sisters had always encouraged him to go for the girl, but they never seemed to tell him what to do the next morning. There was supposed to be pillow talk, right? No, the pillow talk was after sex, and they did a little of that before his eyes closed.

Breakfast! That's what it was. Breakfast.

"Um… would you like me to make you some eggs? I know all the recipes."

"Don't really like eggs. I'll make myself a bowl of cereal," Girl Jordan waved her hand dismissively.

"Okay. So now what?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just… what would you call 'this'?" Lincoln asked, flicking his pointer finger between himself and her. "We're not really dating. We're not engaged to get married. But I'm not… I don't know about you, but I don't think this is the kinda thing friends do with each other. I lo- like you a little more than a friend."

"Aw," Girl Jordan sighed in spite of herself, her cheeks shifting from their normal color to a rosy, comforting red.

"So, I don't really know, how are we going forward from here?"

That was what was different about Lincoln. So many guys would just bang the girl and run off early next morning and share the story with their bros. Not Lincoln. Even if he was one of the bros, he wouldn't do that to her. He lo- liked her too much.

Which left the question in her hands; how were they supposed to deal with this?

"Th-There's a nice fusion place I've been wanting to go to recently. It's a Greek-Indian place. Food's really good, and I've been told the waiters are really attentive," Girl Jordan said. "Is your Tuesday night open?"

Lincoln gave her a flicker of a smile, and a rough chuckle.

"Yeah. Yeah, that works."

* * *

The party itself was a great success, as indicated by the envious looks Cristina gave Girl Jordan every time they crossed paths in the hallway at school. All in all, everyone seemed to have fun. Mollie did a good job of keeping the snacks supplied, clearing out the pool when necessary, and even talking to a lone cop snooping around for drugs (of which there was plenty). At the end of it all, there were only two minor injuries, and only one smashed window. That was a win, Girl Jordan supposed.

What was most important, at the end of it all, was that she got her hands on the object of her desire.

For the short remainder of the school year, Lincoln and Girl Jordan spent much more time together. It started out with small gestures, like Lincoln offering for the both of them to walk home together. That then turned into the two driving around together and stopping at scenic locales. In time, that then became Lincoln frequently rushing out the door, day after day, and each time telling his family "I'm off to Girl Jordan's place."

"Ooh la la," Lucy would mutter monotonously.

"You better not be doing anything funny with her!" his mother would shout, while his father would hope for the opposite. Damn, he was proud of his boy!

It wasn't all roses and gardens, of course. There were disagreements, shouting matches, canceled dates and a brief breakup that lasted three days before the dumb teens ran back into each other's arms. Love is strongest in its first few weeks, where the bond is either made or broken.

But little did either of them know that something was about to happen that would prove whether their bond would be the former or the latter.

It started during summer vacation, when school was finally let out and everyone was finally allowed to be outside during the day and enjoy the nice weather… if there was any, that is. The summers seemed to get hotter and hotter each year, and today proved it more than ever.

When Girl Jordan woke up that day, she was sweating. A lot. She had practically made her own mini-lake in the pillow crater where her head had rested. She groaned, reaching up to wipe her forehead, before muttering "Fuck it," and grabbing a tissue box and swiping away. That seemed to do the trick.

Girl Jordan then got up with another groan, and stretched to relieve her limbs. Her joints popped one by one as the slender girl stretched in her tight pajamas. After that, it was a simple morning routine; she showered, brushed her teeth, brushed her hair, braided it up, put on her day clothes and finally opened a window to check the temperature outside.

She stuck her hand out, and the Sun decided to give her a high five.

And by high five, I mean scorch her skin.

"Ouch," she drew her hand back. Her skin had been feeling a little extra sensitive lately, so exposing it to the powerful ultraviolet rays outside might not be an option right now. She'd have to spend the day indoors.

_Unless Lincoln would come over here and wrap himself around me like a human, sun-proof jacket~_

"Maybe in my dreams," Girl Jordan said with a sigh. She sat on the couch and lay down on her back, putting her shoes on the cushions. Her parents hated it when she put her shoes on furniture, but then again, they weren't around to scold her. Phone in hand, she typed in her passcode and began scrolling through a wall of texts from friends and frenemies. "Now to see who we ignore, and who we actually bother with."

She skipped past Paige and Rusty, but indulged her pastry-loving friend Cookie with a little talk. Cookie was at a convention of some kind, and she sent Girl Jordan a link to a picture of her on Twitter, joined by two other girls; a shy girl with a long strand of black hair obscuring her face, and a more busty girl with a panda cap on her head. The caption below them read 'QTs ❤'

"At least their building is air-conditioned," Girl Jordan muttered. "I can't even get comfortable here."

Every few minutes, Girl Jordan found herself going to the thermostat and flipping it wildly between heat and cold. She couldn't get the right temperature, no matter what. It seemed she was uncomfortable with room temperature, and anything that went beyond in it in either direction.

Now, she was shivering, huddling into herself and rubbing her arms together. Her elbow brushed her stomach, and Girl Jordan paused for a moment. "Did I gain weight?" she asked aloud.

The question had to wait. Her stomach growled loudly at that moment, and it was only then that Girl Jordan realized she had forgotten to eat breakfast. She licked the roof of her mouth for confirmation, and could confirm that her mouth still tasted terrible and felt dry.

"Dang it."

She checked the clock on her phone. It was exactly noon, so making herself pancakes was not an option anymore. She didn't want to be one of those manic pixie girls that ate breakfast for lunch. Breakfast is for breakfast, lunch is for lunch.

"Okay, seriously, my thoughts are getting really scatterbrained."

She decided to focus on what she was going to get for lunch. There were so many options, and as Girl Jordan found as she scrolled down the menus of each restaurant chain she looked at, everything seemed both appetizing and disgusting at the same time. The chicken was too greasy, the burgers were too small, the pizza toppings she really wanted were unavailable. What the hell? Did someone kidnap all the banana pepper farmers in the world?

She was growling by this point, smacking her thumb on the small device until she got so upset she tossed it on the couch. "Seriously, what does it take to get some good food around here?! Do I have to cook it myself?!"

_Yeah… that's not an option. You know we failed Home Ec, right?_

"I guess beggars can't be choosers," Girl Jordan gave up. She picked her phone up again and chose the first restaurant on the menu. Thankfully, it was Burpin' Burger, one of the better fast food chains in Royal Woods.

She waited for forty-ish minutes, before the doorbell rang and the delivery-boy gave her the food. She set it down on the table and opened up her meal. "Ooh, lucky curly fry," she said with a grin, picking out the lone curly fry amidst its inferior comrades. She crunched down on it, the taste of potato juicing onto her tongue. She wolfed down the fries, then without hesitation reached for the burger and practically inhaled it.

"Ah, that hit the spot," she sighed as she sat back in her chair, head tapping against the wall. She felt relaxed enough to take a nap right at the dinner table, but sleeping in the fumes of a fast food meal probably wasn't the healthiest way to live. She reached over for her soda, but before the straw could even touch her lips…

_That's weird. I feel…_

Her stomach swirled.

Her throat constricted.

Her teeth grit.

Her hands immediately flew to cover her mouth as she felt something quickly rise from her throat. She jumped out of her chair, and ran in the direction of the bathroom, but…

She fell to her knees, retching for a moment, before unloading a wave of vomit and bile from her throat. She began panting, the acidic taste lingering in her mouth, and gave in as more puke flowed from her onto the floor. She knew she would have to clean it later, but that was the least of her concerns right now.

_What's happening to me?!_

* * *

"That's weird," Lucy said as she looked over her flipped tarot cards. She scanned them over and over again, and then flipped her head back to the book she was reading, trying to make sure she didn't make a mistake.

"Maybe I did something wrong," she whispered. "There's no way that-"

There was a loud explosion down the hall, shaking the entire house, which was quickly followed by a masculine voice crying out "LISAAAAAAAAA!"

"Sorry, sorry," the scientist apologized. Lucy stepped out of her dimly lit room, stepping past a melting candle in the doorway, to see her older brother marching down the hall towards Lisa's room. Clouds of smoke were circling the door, and Lisa stood outside with a fire extinguisher in her gloved hands, spraying into her room. She stopped when the smoke dissipated, then turned to face the rest of her family. She began sheepishly chuckling when she noticed everyone looking at her through their doorways with stern eyes, and an even madder Lincoln standing right besides her.

"It… it was a resounding success..."

"A success? You wanted to burn the house down?" Lola asked.

"Boy, I'm glad I don't sleep in that room anymore," Lily said.

"Traitor," Lisa spat.

"Lisa, seriously, you haven't had an explosion that bad in months. That really scared us!" Lincoln exclaimed. "I thought you said you were done doing chemistry in your room."

"I got excited," Lisa admitted. "I had to do it as soon as possible. I really thought I had found a formula that could make animals speak. Turns out all it does is blow up."

"You'll get there eventually," Lincoln said reassuringly. "In your lab. Far away from wooden beds, wooden floorboards, wooden doors, and any other wooden fire hazards."

Lisa nodded with a sigh, and went back into her room, as did the other girls. All except for Lucy, who stepped out into the hall. She glided over to her brother and tapped his shoulder. "Hey Lincoln."

Her brother shivered with frightened surprise, but Lucy was used to that treatment by now. He didn't do it on purpose, after all. "Luce, hey, what's… what's up?"

"I've been reading over my cards, and they've been telling me things."

"Good things or bad things," Lincoln said, playing along.

"Sigh. Depends. I've done a reading today and I don't think it's even true. Do you mind if I ask you something personal?"

"How personal?"

"You and Girl Jordan are dating, right? As in, the kind of dating Griselda does with Edwin rather than the one Blake does with Maria?"

"Um… we've _kissed_, if that's what you're asking," Lincoln answered uneasily.

"Have you done… more than kissing?"

His eyes widened. The young man started sweating bullets, and it wasn't just because of the heat. He stammered for a few moments, waving his hands around in a jerky fashion, before he finally said "I don't want to answer that, because it's none of your business."

"But Lincoln-"

"No 'buts.' How would you feel if I asked you the same thing?"

"No, seriously, Lincoln, it's important."

"No means no, Lucy."

Lucy sighed. An actual sigh, rather than a verbalized one. She spun around, the hem of her elegant black dress spinning with her. She went back into her room, but before she disappeared into the dark shadows within, her hand shot out and clasped the frame of her doorway. "One last thing before you go, big brother."

"What is it?" Lincoln asked, slightly exasperated.

"Congratulations."

She sealed the door behind after she said that, leaving a very confused Lincoln standing alone in the hall.

* * *

She could feel her heartbeat as she stumbled into the house, back from the store. Her anxious, anxious heartbeat. She peered into her plastic shopping bag, sorting through everything she had bought. She had purchased a lot of snacks and batteries and useless small toys in hopes of covering up what she really wanted to buy from the cashier…

She pulled it out and thumbed over it, gulping as she read the instructions on the box.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she just had some kind of summer flu or stomach bug that was making her feel the way she was. But then again, she had to be sure.

"I… I don't get it," Girl Jordan said to herself as she flipped the small rectangular box in her hand again. "He wrapped it up. How could I have..."

She had heard the stories, of course. Condoms weren't necessarily reliable. They could expire, break, tear, and malfunction in about ten others ways. All it would take is for a single drop to get through and that would leave her…

_Come on, Jordan, let's not jump to any conclusions._

She looked at the food she had bought, though. It all seemed nasty, and not even in the usual gas station way. Just… she really didn't want to eat any of it. She wanted something sweet, but not the chocolate bar she had gotten. She wanted something salty, but not that brand of chips. She reached in to grab a small chicken sandwich, and sniffed it.

The smell made her _nauseous_.

She then looked at one of the toys she had got. It had just been for cover-up, because it would've really embarrassing to just buy a pregnancy test on its own, but depending on her results, that toy might just be played with in a few months.

"No point delaying the inevitable," she realized. The brunette marched up the stairs and into the bathroom. She pulled the pregnancy test itself out of the box, and did what she had to.

And then she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Her eyes were glued to it, unwavering and at times unblinking. She was too afraid to even cough or sneeze, for fear that might somehow skew her results. "Alright, two lines means there's a bun in the oven. One line means I'm just feeling a little sick. There's nothing wrong with being sick. If I'm sick, that means I get to eat chicken noodle soup all day and stay in bed. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being sick. I'm sure Lincoln won't mind coming over if I'm... sick..."

After what felt like years, Girl Jordan fell silent as something began to change. Her pupils were like an eagle's as she watched the results come in…

When she read it, her reaction was surprisingly downplayed. She was frozen for a moment, before she let out a cool, composed breath and set the test aside.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Jordan," she said to herself. "It's a baby."


	4. Chapter 4

**jedichillwill: I like the way you think :ehe:**

**Guest 1: That's really nice of you to say, thank you so much dude. You have no idea how much that means :)**

**Guest 2: Well, remember, she did have a variety of symptoms, and the memory of what she and Lincoln did was on her mind. If I developed red bumps a few weeks after I was with a girl, I'd probably realize pretty quickly it's not just chickenpox.**

* * *

Two lines. Who knew it only took two lines on a small piece of plastic to seal a person's fate?

Within the first immediate seconds of getting her results, Girl Jordan was hit by everything those two lines represented. They meant that she was pregnant, that there was a young boy or girl with half of her DNA and half of Lincoln's DNA nestling inside her. They meant that she would have to tell someone about the baby. A lot of someones, actually. Her parents swiftly came to mind, and she doubted she could hide it from her friends when her belly started swelling.

Lincoln. That was the important one. She knew that eventually, sometime close or far, she would have to tell him.

"I-I wonder how he'd react," she said in a stunned tone. She was feeling more emotionally numb at the moment, and she had the feeling she'd be getting hyper-emotional in a few minutes or a few hours. _It's… it's what pregnant women do, _she joked to herself.

But how would he react? Lincoln was a good person, and he had a history of putting other people's needs on his shoulders. Hell, he even had a history of taking care of babies and young children. But he also had a history of being flippant and self-serving. And then there was the question of how he would view _her, _let alone the child.

Girl Jordan sighed. She knew she was thinking crazy. Lincoln could react in a thousand different ways, and not all of them had to be bad. Some of them were, but some of them weren't. He was a real person, not a cartoon character. He had hopes, desires, dreams, expectations of ways of dealing with things. Girl Jordan was sure he'd adapt to being told he was about to become a teen dad. Hell, they were the lucky ones, now that she thought about it. They were both seventeen, about to be eighteen. They were bordering adulthood, if not already there. There was no reason for him to react super-childish to the whole ordeal.

That thought calmed her down. She looked up from the tiles on the bathroom floor and began to note how uncomfortable the toilet seat felt against her butt. She had been really pressing into it.

"Alright, Jordan, let's walk through this. You're having a baby, congrats. That's what evolution wants. Y-You should be thankful, some people can't have kids. So… what do we do now?" she asked herself.

Her family wasn't extremely religious, but she was Catholic enough to avoid thinking about… _that. _This baby was going to come out in nine months… well, more like six or seven. Maybe five, if it's early. The point is that she was going to have to live with this, so solutions started to pour in like rain.

"Cravings. That'll be a problem. I know I'm supposed to eat healthy, but am I supposed to have more veggies or more meat? And come to think of it, how much am I supposed to eat? And what should I drink with it, water or milk? And that's the easy stuff. How long am I supposed to sleep? I mean, I can sleep whenever I want now, but what about when I go back to school? Oh shit, school. Oh shit, am I allowed to say 'shit'? I don't want my kid's first words to be swears. How will they get into a good school?!"

A calm beat passed.

"I need to tell someone. They can tell me what to do."

_Why not just use the internet?_

Girl Jordan laughed. "Oh yeah, the internet. They'll just tell me that everything I do will cause cancer. Oh, and that the uterus is just a virtual simulation by lizard Freemason NASA employees."

_Well, that just leaves the women in your life. You know… like your mother…_

"Oh… right..."

Girl Jordan didn't know how Lincoln would react to her pregnancy, but she _did _know how her mother would react. She was upper crust people; the best of the best in Royal Woods. If she knew that her daughter had gotten pregnant at seventeen, by the hands of a _POOR_ kid of all people, she would flip. Long story short, her mother wasn't an option. Maybe her father, who was a little more sympathetic and doting and kindly, but not her mother.

"And that leaves… no one," she whispered. "No one."

The feeling of closing loneliness began to constrict around her. She could feel her breathing start to increase slowly, and become more ragged. She closed her fist and put it on her chest as she heaved, and beads of sweat began to descend from her forehead. "It's not fair," she said to herself, closing her eyes tightly. "It's… it's just not fair! Why do other girls get to announce their pregnancies and get applauded, while I'm stuck in this fucking bathroom?! I can't even hide this forever! Why? WHY?! I was as careful as I could be!"

Her throat lurched again, and Girl Jordan fell on the ground, spinning quickly to open the lid of the toilet and expel her insides in the bowl. Acids ran down her chin like tears ran down her cheek. Her heart was sinking, and she wished she could sink with it.

"It's not fair..." were the last words from her mouth before she passed out on the ground.

* * *

When she finally came to, she shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. She patted the back of her head, and it felt matted and poofy. _Christ, can't I get a break?_

She was feeling just a little better, though, so that was nice.

Her reflection in the mirror was haggard and pale, like a hostage in some dimly lit attic. She felt like a hostage. A hostage of… well, everything at the moment.

_I think I need to talk to someone, _she figured as she reached for her comb and shakily combed her hair.

But who? Who?

"Who do I trust the most in this town? Who do I like the most?"

Lincoln quickly flashed into her mind, but she dispelled that. She would need to talk to someone about talking to him at this rate. So her mind quickly flashed to the person she trusted second-most in the whole town…

Mollie.

"Can I really tell her about… this, though?" Girl Jordan grabbed her stomach and squeezed it lightly. "What advice could she even give me?"

_It's better than staying cooped up in her with me. Any advice she can give is better than what I will._

"That's true."

It wasn't that bad of an idea, all things considered. Mollie was many things. She was abrasive, rough, snarky and a little, oh what's the word… _absolutely intolerable_ at times. But she was also loyal to a fault, and could give decent advice when she wanted to. Plus, she had a secret soft spot for kids. She'd want to hear this.

"Great. I'll go tell Mollie right after I build up the courage to tell her!" Girl Jordan beamed.

_Just call her._

"Hey, I'm the one who's about to embarrass herself and tell someone something really private. Give me a few moments."

If her subconscious could roll its eyes, it would have. _Fine. At least you're not crying anymore. Must be those mood swings kicking in._

"Aren't mood swings supposed to appear later?"

_You're a teen girl. You always have mood swings._

It was a good thing she did. If she didn't, she had no doubt she would be on the floor right now, with tears gushing from her eyes. Her mind was temporarily distracted by a glowing feeling of hope that Mollie would swash-buckle in and save the day, so she knew she had to capitalize on it.

The next moments were a blur (literally, she felt dizzy and the whole world seemed to spin together and turn into a multi-colored blur) but she found herself pacing back and forth in the living room, her thumb scrolling through a list of contacts until she reached her friend's number. Her breath hitched when she saw the number labeled 'Mom' right underneath it. "M-Maybe she'll never have to find out. Those trips in Asia take a real long time," Girl Jordan giggled nervously.

She summoned all her courage with a deep breath. Her thumb dangled dangerously over Mollie's phone number. She willed herself to push down on the button, but there was an almost gravitational force that kept her thumb hovering over the screen. "Come on, come on… Why am I still so nervous?"

_She's not going to call me a slut… she's not going to call me a slut… she's not going to call me a slut…_

With that semi-soothing phrase repeating in her mind, Jordan forced herself to push down on the 'call' button in a flash. She instantly regretted it, but kept her hand off the phone. It was too late, she realized with glee and embarrassment. Even if she did cancel the call, Mollie would still have gotten the message that she tried to call her. Girl Jordan carefully raised the phone to her face, listening to every buzz and vibration…

"_Hey, you've reached Mollie. Only you haven't, cause I'm away right now. Uh… call back later. And by later, I don't mean two minutes later."_

"Glad I forced myself to call her for nothing," Girl Jordan growled.

She tried again, with similar results.

"Do you take a message?" Girl Jordan asked the phone. "Because I got a message: Mollie, you SUCK!"

Two seconds later…

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that, please forgive me."

_You know it's not taking a message, right?_

"Oh, right, forgot."

She turned her phone off and tossed it on the couch. Girl Jordan bit down on her finger, an anxious look crawling onto her face. For one reason or another, Mollie's phone wasn't working, but she needed to talk to her _now. _There wasn't anyone else she could turn to. Her foot tapped against the floor, filling the quiet living room with echoes, until she started pacing around again. She walked from the living room to the kitchen, and from the kitchen to the closet, and from the closet back to the living room.

Then she opened the door and headed straight for the sidewalk.

* * *

_Knock knock_

"Mollie, get up," Mollie's mother grumbled as she stood in her sleeping daughter's doorway. She rapped her fingers against the door, hoping to bother her daughter into waking. The teen groaned, flipping over in bed and covering her head with the blanket. Finally, she gave up and rose with a sigh.

"Morning, mom."

"It's hardly morning. It's almost afternoon."

"Is it?" Mollie reached to her side to check the small digital clock she kept on her bedside desk. She glanced at the large red numbers. "Wait, but it says here it's only ten in the morning."

"Ten _fifteen_."

"Still, it's not that close to afternoon."

Her mother sighed. "You know, you're the only one of your siblings like this. Your older brother is a morning person, and your younger sister is awake at five. Why can't you be like them?"

"Because Mike is a super-nerd that actually likes school, and Kat is a super-baby that wants to spend all morning watching cartoons."

Her mother rolled her eyes and left, just satisfied that Mollie was awake. The brunette growled as she stretched her slender limbs and hopped out of bed, taking off her sleepwear and putting on her usual pink shirt, purple jacket, skirt and boots. It was kinda her trademark.

Mollie practically hopped down the stairs, getting into the energy of the morning. "Well look who decided to grace us with her presence," her older brother Mike said as she entered the kitchen. "It's Sleeping Beauty, only without the beauty."

"So is that what you're doing with your English studies? Learning crappy insults? I bet you and your liberal arts buddies sit around with each other having 'serious' discussions about what you'd do to Sleeping Beauty's body if you found her."

Her sister Kat giggled, before slapping her iPad screen for the next cartoon. Mollie didn't like seeing that. She worried her sister was getting addicted to screens way too early. At least wait until you're a teen to get hooked.

She poured herself a bowl of cereal, splattering the wheat and chocolate with milk. Before her spoonful of carbs could even touch her mouth, she heard a vicious knocking at the door. She jumped with fright at first, as did her sister. This was either a really urgent mailman, or a robber trying to get in.

Mike, of course, didn't have the same paranoia nestled in his brain, so he got up and checked the door. His head popped around the corner for a second to say "Hey, Mollie, it's for you."

"Aw, I was about to eat!"

She grabbed her bowl and went to the door, finding Girl Jordan standing there, rubbing her arm nervously. "Hey, Jordan. What are you doing here so early?"

"Mollie, I tried calling you. Where the hell were you?!"

"Asleep."

"You really have an unhealthy sleep cycle."

Mollie shrugged in agreement, and scooped up some cereal to eat. "That doesn't answer my question, though. What are you doing here?"

"Mollie, I need to talk to you. Inside. Please."

The desperation in her tone encouraged Mollie to take a second look at her friend. There was something… off about her. She seemed nervous and sweaty, her hand constantly seemed to be in motion. And maybe it was her shirt but… did she gain weight? Not that Mollie was going to ask. Girl Jordan looked like she would tear her to shreds if she did. Hell, she'd tear her to shreds no matter what circumstances if she asked.

"I don't know," Mollie said. "I'm still a little tired, so I..."

"Mollie, I slept with Lincoln!" Girl Jordan blurted, knocking all the tiredness out of Mollie's body. "And I think that I..."

"Say no more. Come inside. And don't scream about that, I have a kid sister in here."

Mollie put a careful hand on Girl Jordan's back, and noticed just how toasty her skin felt. Something told Mollie that it was more than just summer heat.

In her room, Girl Jordan took a little prodding before she finally spilled everything. She told Mollie how she had put her in charge to give her a chance to seduce Lincoln. She told her how her plan succeeded. She told her how they had wrapped it up, but…

"Jordan… dude… y-you did make him wrap it up, right?"

"Of course I did. There must've been a tear or something..."

"Jordan, listen to me," Mollie put her hand on her friend's shoulder, drawing her in, "You have to tell someone that isn't me. You have to tell… well, obviously, you should tell him. It's his kid, he needs to know. But also, you need to tell your parents."

"No… no, I can't do that."

"Why not?" Mollie's tone seemed a little frustrated.

"Mollie, you don't know my parents. You have no idea how badly they'll react. Especially my mom."

"What's wrong with your mom?"

Girl Jordan trembled, though it didn't seem like a shiver of fright. It was more like… resentment. "I know the idea is that I should talk to her because she knows how to deal with pregnancies and babies, but… trust me, she doesn't She really doesn't care. When I was kid, she usually left me alone just so she could yell at some low-ranking employee in her company. Plus, she's really… what's the word? Classist?"

"Classist? I mean, Lincoln's not that poor. He doesn't have brains or muscles or a charming personality, but I'm pretty he has money."

"You don't know my mom. To her, anyone that isn't behind a gated community is poor."

"But… but you don't live in a gated community either!"

"She once said that she wanted to marry me off," Girl Jordan admitted with a sigh. "Marry me off, make connections, get us richer..."

"Do you honestly think she's that inhuman? Do you honestly think that, when her daughter calls her from home and tells her she's having a baby, she won't care?"

There was a pause. Girl Jordan wanted to answer an absolute, unwavering 'Yes' but something was keeping that word lodged in her mouth. "I… I..."

_Don't you think maybe you're being a bit of an angsty 'I hate you, Mom' teen right now? You haven't talked to her in a while. Maybe speak to her before you start acting like she's the Wicked Witch._

"I don't want to talk to her," she finally said.

Mollie sighed, and rubbed her eyes. "Okay. So Mom doesn't work for you. Okay. How about your dad?"

"I… I guess I could talk to him. Although..."

"Although what?"

Girl Jordan groaned. "Mollie, how would you feel if you had to call your dad and tell him… tell him that you were at a party and slept with someone? You had to tell him, and listen to him, as you let him know that Daddy's little girl isn't a little girl anymore, and that she's carrying a little boy or girl inside her now? I can't… I can't do it. It's too weird."

Mollie had only met her father three times in her life, but she understood what her friend was saying. "Look," she started calmly, "I get that you're embarrassed. I get that this whole thing is confusing and frightening. I know you think you've let other people down. But listen to me here…"

Girl Jordan looked into Mollie's eyes, her pupils sharp and alert. Mollie coughed awkwardly before she continued.

"I think that you should at least try with your Dad. I also think you should try with your Mom, but that's a different story. You think you've let him down? You don't know that for sure. And even if you somehow did, even if he's so upset that he can't speak, you don't have another place to turn to. I know you want this kid, s-so all you can really do is prepare everyone around you for him. Or her."

"But what if..."

"I'm going to be here. So don't worry about a thing," Mollie said with a caring smile. "If they do the unbelievable and decide to disown you, I'll be right here for you. Hell, I'll even give you a place to stay."

"You will?"

"I mean, we don't have a pool or a billion rooms, but I think it'll be fun."

Girl Jordan laughed, and for the first time in nearly a day it was a warm laugh. "It'll be like a never-ending sleepover," she joked.

"And that's the worst case scenario! So what the hell are you even scared of?" Mollie chuckled besides her.

Deep down, both girls knew the serious ramifications of what could happen. But, at the end of the day, what is a good friend for if not to help you through the toughness of life?

She took Girl Jordan's hands in her's, and helped dial in the numbers to reach her father's phone. She waited for Girl Jordan to send the call, but she was still hesitant and frightened. With an understanding nod, Mollie pressed the button for her, then got up to leave the room, leaving Girl Jordan with her privacy.

With every shake from the phone, she felt more sick. When she heard the crackle on the other side, she nearly jumped up with fright. "_H-Hello?_" came a tired, older voice over the phone.

"Hi Dad… dy," Jordan tacked on at the end.

"_Jordan? Jordan, honey, how are you? It's so nice to hear your sweet voice again."_

"Th-thanks, Dad. Dad, listen, I need to talk to you about… something important. I need to tell you something."

"_Oh_…_ oh, Jordan, I'm so sorry. I'd love to talk with you, but if it's serious stuff… well, I am a little… um..."_

He didn't have to tell her. She could tell that he was hungover.

"_Listen, sweetie, I have your mother right here next to me. I'll just hand her the phone-"_

"N-No!"

"_Hello? Jordan?"_

When she heard the voice of her mother over the phone, her heart sunk immediately. She wanted to end the call right there, but she couldn't now. She had to tell. Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes as she grit her teeth and said "Hi, Mom."

"_Jordan? I overheard what your father said. Is everything alright?"_

"I… I have to tell you something important, Mom. I wanted to tell Dad, but he's… yeah. I have to tell you."

"_Well, what is it? I hope it's nothing too serious."_

"Mom, what do you think about babies?"

"_Well, when you were one, you were a bit of a handful. Always screaming, always crying, always throwing around your food… so many times I just didn't know what to do with you, so I just handed you over to the maid while I lay down..."_

Girl Jordan's fists curled angrily.

"… _But, if I'm being honest, Jordan, I do miss those days slightly."_

The anger faded as quickly as it manifested. "Y-You do?"

"_I wish I did things differently, then. Throughout your whole life, I've been so focused on work. The older you got, the more of an excuse I had to slip away. But when you were a baby, a beautiful, defenseless little baby screaming for Mommy, I had no choice but to scoop you up and protect you from all the things that scared you. And… it was nice to feel that close to you. To care for you. To… I'm sorry, I'm making this all about myself. I just want you to know that you'll feel the same way one day, when you have a child of your own. I know it'll be as amazing and beautiful as you are, and you'll feel the same."_

"Do… do you know what I wanted to tell you?"

"_No. But I have a motherly intuition about what it might be."_

Girl Jordan smiled, and felt a warm blush spread across her entire body. "W-Well, I shouldn't prove your motherly intuition wrong. Mom, I… I… I'm pregnant."

There was silence from the other side, and Girl Jordan waited patiently for her mother's response. She was gripped with two feelings; cold terror and warm love. It was a game now, she felt. Which side of her mother would win over?

"_Jordan, I'm flying back home at the soonest possible time,_" her mother started. Girl Jordan crossed her fingers, in fear of what might be said…

"_But until I can be there for you… I… I honestly don't know what to say."_

"Are you mad?"

"_Not mad. No, I couldn't be mad. I'm about to become a grandmother! I am… I'm too overwhelmed."_

"Aren't you mad that I slept with a guy you don't even know? How are you supposed to marry me off if I already have a kid?"

"_What on Earth are you talking about?"_

"I heard you once say that you wanted to marry me to some business tycoon. I know you wanted to increase our connections."

There was another moment of silence, before Jordan heard a sound she almost never heard from her mother.

Laughter.

"_Jordan, Jordan… that was a threat to your father. I said _if _he didn't take me to the Maldives for some vacation, I'd marry you off to one of his rivals so he'd never see you again. It was a mean joke, I admit. I… I suppose I'm still a little insensitive towards you. I'm sorry."_

Jordan couldn't say anything, too stunned she was by the revelation, so her mother carried forward. _"I know I haven't been the best mother, as I've said, so I want to make it up to you now. I'll help you through these months. I'll do my best to stay by your side. That is… if you'll let me..."_

"O-Of course I would," she said, her mouth quivering and tears of relief now pouring down her face. "I'm sure the baby would love to see her… grandmother."

"_We'll talk more when I arrive. Take care of yourself until then, Jordan. And one last thing..."_

"Yes Mom?"

"_Does he know?"_

Girl Jordan knew automatically who she was referring to.

"No. Not yet. I haven't told him."

"_I see. We'll talk more when I see you in person, dear. Your father and I will. I love you, Jordan."_

"I… I love you too," Girl Jordan said as the call ended.

She… didn't know how to feel. She felt like she was in trouble, much like a troublesome teenager, but at the same time… she didn't. Maybe it was her mother's maternal side coming out, but the news of a pregnancy, even a teenage one, didn't seem to faze her as much as Jordan thought it would. Hell, everything about her mother wasn't what she thought she would be like. Maybe… maybe she was wrong about everything…

"Told you your Mom wasn't as bad as you were making her out to be."

She turned around and saw Mollie standing in the door frame, arm pressed on the wood, a smug grin etched on her mouth. Without a single word, Girl Jordan stood up and shuffled over to her friend, and hugged her tightly. Mollie choked at first, but then smiled and patted the pregnant teen's back.

"Thank you, Mollie," Girl Jordan whispered into her ear.

"No problem. What else is a godmother for?"

"Godmother?" Girl Jordan asked as she broke the hug.

"Well, duh. Who else are you going to ask? Stella?"

Girl Jordan punched her friend playfully, and Mollie complained as she rubbed it.

_You know, maybe things are going to turn out alright for me and the little one._

* * *

**I know the ending felt rushed, but that has to do with what I'm about to tell you below;**

**I'll be taking a break from writing for a while due to the fact that I'm moving. It's a lot of work, and I'm struggling to write while I'm moving boxes, throwing out furniture and deciding which of my possessions must **_**BURN!**_

**So yeah, I'll be taking a little time to get everything in order. Hopefully, I'll get back to writing sometime in July or August. I'll also try to work on this story whenever I can. So until then, have a good one.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**A drunken Auto stumbles in to the scene. His face is covered in stubble, his eyes are red and teary, and he smells like he just pissed himself. He leans into the camera, and gruffly whispers, "I'm back."**_

* * *

When her parents finally returned home, Girl Jordan was there waiting with tears in her soft eyes. Before a single word was traded, the three family members fell together in a warm embrace. Girl Jordan, for her part, grabbed and held onto her parents tightly, not willing to let them. The moment she let them out of her grasp, they would be away. Again. And she was so tired of them being away.

In a twist of fate, the roles Girl Jordan had placed on her parents had reversed. It was her mother that was kindly and soft with her, touching her gingerly and talking her through the tears. It was her father that was the angry one. He was upset that some boy had claimed his daughter's virginity before marriage, and were he a more violent man he'd hunt the boy down, tie him up, and walk him down to the altar himself. Thankfully, he restrained himself, if only to stand by his daughter's side and bring her what she needed.

Both parents agreed, however, on what Girl Jordan should do next.

"Tell him."

They were gathered in her bedroom, Girl Jordan sitting on her bed in her pajamas with a pillow curled in her grasp. Her parents stood hovering over her, both agreeing against their daughter.

"I can't," she insisted softly.

"Why not, dear?"

"I… I'm scared, I guess."

"Scared of what?"

"Scared of what he'll do. Scared of what he'll think."

Her father's face reddened with momentary rage. The idea that this boy, who had impregnated his daughter and claimed to love her, would do or say anything outside of taking responsibility and planning the rest of his life around his woman and child ignited his temper. It was only a cautious look from his wife that kept him from voicing his angry opinions.

"Jordan, I understand how you feel," the older woman said, slipping by Girl Jordan's side. She touched her daughter's shoulder, and clamped down softly. "I know that if I were in your place, I would be scared too. But..."

"Before you say 'but', Mom, I just want you to realize that we're not in the same place. When you got pregnant with me, you and Dad were already married. You two were adults, together, planning for a kid. I'm not any of those things, okay?"

Her voice was cracking towards the end, so she shut her mouth to keep herself from breaking down in tears.

"You're absolutely right, Jordan. We were stable and mature when you first started growing inside of me. But our situations aren't completely different."

Girl Jordan looked up from her blanket to her mother's face. "H-How do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, for one thing, your father wasn't with me the entire time. During my first- I want to say two months, or maybe three- he was attending to his father back home in New York. And we barely had any close friends around here, so I had to take care of myself. Luckily, it was just for the first few months. If it were the later ones, I don't know what I'd do," she laughed.

Girl Jordan looked over at her father for confirmation, and the man's face was pained with a guilt-ridden smile.

"But more importantly, Jordan, I was scared too. We may have been wanting a baby, true, but when it finally, actually happened… well, it was frightening prospect at first. What if we weren't ready? What if we couldn't be their for our child? What if something happened to them? What if… what if we turned out to be bad parents?"

"But you two are great parents!" Girl Jordan told them. And this time, when she said it, it wasn't a lie.

"Thank you, honey," Dad smiled.

"It's nice to hear, Jordan. But back to my point… what I meant to say is that even with all those worries building up, there was one thing that made it easy… that I wouldn't be doing this alone. I would be doing this… with the man I loved."

She looked at her spouse, and the two smiled warmly at each other.

"So, Jordan, let me ask you this about your boy… do you think the boy who was with you that night… do you think your love for him is strong enough for him to put himself by your side again?"

The parents rejoined each other, and both looked down at their only child with expectant, and maybe even careful, eyes. The teen's slender finger pressed against her chin as she thought on her mother's words. She tried to picture it in her head; a younger version of her mom with a more inflated body on the couch, cradling her belly as she chewed on health bars. She imagined the woman who would become her mother keeping her eye on the clock, counting the hours, minutes, _seconds_, until her lover came home. And when he finally did, when that doorbell sound rang through their home, she imagined her running to the door and hugging him.

A group hug, she realized with a smirk.

Then she tried to imagine herself in her mom's place, and Lincoln standing where her father was. The two of them holding each other tightly, the soft heartbeat of their growing baby audible to both of them.

She liked that image.

She wanted that image.

"I… I… well, I think I'll do it. I'll tell him."

She looked at her parents, her confident smile returning to her face. "Mom, Dad, if there's one last thing I can ask from you to make this work..."

"Anything," they both said at the same time.

"I need you guys to find somewhere else to be. I've got a plan."

Her dad wanted to push back, and insist on his refusal. He had just gotten here, and he was going to leave his child-bearing daughter _alone_?! How could he call himself a man if he did that?! Even her mother seemed to purse her lips in disapproval. "Jordan..."

The two women looked into each other's eyes, and the pleading in Jordan's eyes convinced her.

"We can just find a hotel for a few days," Mom said, looking at her husband. "I trust Jordan. Don't you?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Dad!"

His wife whispered something into his right ear, her lips curling and rounding as she spoke her quiet words. The man's dark eyes widened with every word, and by the time she was done, his hands were shaking. Not with anger, but with fear. "O-On second thought… Jordan, I completely trust you. Good luck!"

He left the room, and Girl Jordan stared at her mother with a look that mostly confusion, but with a hint of being impressed. "What did you just say to him?"

"Jordan… let's just say your father is a man. And all men have the same weakness."

She chuckled evilly, before bending down to kiss her daughter's forehead. "I love you, Jordan," she whispered, patting Girl Jordan's brown mat of hair affectionately, "and I know I haven't always shown it. But I'll do my best now. For you and for my granddaughter."

"How do you know I'm having a girl?"

"It might be a boy. But I have a feeling… regardless, good night Jordan."

"Good night, Mom. I love you too," said Girl Jordan as the matriarch left and closed the door behind her, leaving Girl Jordan alone with her child and her thoughts.

She pressed her body against the pillow, and hissed lightly at the sensation. Her breasts were budding and sensitive now, moreso than before. She felt desire flood her body. The desire to have someone touch and massage them, and the equally strong desire to never have anyone touch them ever again. Except Lincoln. Maybe it was the hormones, or maybe it was the desire for him that stretched since as long as she could remember, but she wanted him to stroke his velvety hands over her excitable nubs, play with them until they stood erect, and then do whatever he wanted with them. Hell, he should do whatever he wanted with her, toying with her until they both…

_Yeah, I'm not going to last nine months without him._

She did have a plan, of course. She wasn't just lying to her parents. But it was a weird one, she had to admit. There were a thousand ways where it could fail, but that one situation in which it would succeed was so worth it that Girl Jordan decided to go through with it. She'd need help, and it was at that moment she was so overcome with thankfulness that she had Mollie in her life.

She stood in front of the clear window, looking outside. The night sky was lit with thousands of lights. "Like fireflies stuck in the sky," she said with a smile. She knew she got that from somewhere, but she couldn't remember where exactly.

Regardless, it was a powerful and pretty image, inspiring some humility in the girl who rarely felt humble.

She closed her hands together, fingers locking with each other, and shut her eyes. A voiceless prayer danced on her lips. Her hands fell to her side when she finished, and she opened her eyes. She spied another light in the sky, brimming with color. She knew it was probably a helicopter or maybe a meteor, but… she liked to think there was something divine at work.

* * *

"Lily, how did you get up there in the first place?"

Lincoln stared up at the tree branch that his youngest sister clung to, a look of pure fright on her face. "It was Lisa. She tried out this flight potion on me and… just get me down, Lincoln, I'm scared of heights!"

"If you're afraid of heights, why did you drink her chemical? Did she tell you what it was supposed to do?"

"Of course I did," Lisa said nonchalantly at the porch. "The scientific standards require that I get exact permission and consent for what I want to do."

"I didn't think it would work! I just smelled lemons and got thirsty!"

"Alright, Lily," Lincoln shouted, holding out his hands, "I want you to jump into my hands, okay? I promise I'll catch you. Just jump down."

"I don't want to jump. Can't you come up here?"

"Just trust me, Lily. Don't worry, I got you."

His voice was caring, and his eyes were sure. He would catch her, even if an earthquake knocked him off his feet. Lily took a deep breath, uncurling her fingers around the hard branch, before she clutched it again, too scared to fall. She tried again, but this time, before she could wrap herself around the branch again, she fell down.

She screamed until she landed in Lincoln's arms. His breath puffed at the drop of sudden weight, but he held onto her in a bridal position, her knees and back draped in his arms. He smiled down at the fearful blonde. "Told you I'd catch you."

"Thanks, Lincoln. Now let me down so I can kill Lisa."

"Don't kill her too hard. She's the one that's saving up for your college fund," he told her, setting her down on her feet. Not one second after he let her go, he felt a rapid tapping on his shoulder. He spun around, expecting either one of the twins to be bothering him, but instead…

There was Clyde, huffing and puffing.

"Hey, Clyde, what's up?"

"Had to come to you… to confirm… I heard… through the grapevine… Girl Jordan..." panted Clyde.

"What about her?"

Clyde's eyes flashed. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"How do you not know? You of all people should know!"

Lincoln's brow furled. He was feeling a little worried about the way Clyde was talking. "C-Clyde, what's going on with Girl Jordan?"

"Well, Mister, since you don't know yet, I guess I'll be the one to tell you," he said, swallowing a deep gulp of air. "Girl Jordan is having-"

The African American's phone rang, and Clyde took a second to dig into his pocket and shut it off.

"Having what, Clyde?"

"Dude, Girl Jordan's having another party!"

"Seriously?" Lincoln growled, giving his friend a light smack on the head, brushing his Afro. "Clyde, I thought it was something serious, not just Partytown gossip talk."

His friend shoved him lightly, to avenge the slap he gave him. "Look, you were the one who said that whenever Girl Jordan is having a party, she came to you and gave you a personal invite. I thought that if it was true that she was having another one of her amazing parties, you would be the one to know."

"I guess. Does she even have parties in the summer? Thought she stopped doing those."

"Which makes this one all the more special," Clyde pointed out, before rubbing his chin. "Though if you didn't get an invitation yet, guess that must mean it's BS."

"Hold on, maybe I got something in the mail."

While Lily chased Lisa around the yard in the background, the two boys stepped over to the mailbox. It was rusty and smelled of oxidization, Lincoln noted with a grimace. His fingers clasped around the thin opening of the mailbox, which was left that way by the mailman because the thing was too broken to close properly. He pulled out a few envelopes, and began thumbing through them.

"Invitation for Lola… some science-thing application for Lisa… bills… letter from Luan that's no doubt a joke of some sort… oh, here's something," Lincoln stuffed the other messages back in the rusted mailbox and flicked the envelope open with his sharp fingernail (he really needed to trim his fingernails soon) and two decorated cards fell out.

Clyde scooped one of the ground, and Lincoln grabbed the other. "Guess you were right, Clyde. She is having another party. That's neat."

"It'll be more than neat. Imagine how out-of-control this one will be. No one has to worry about waking up early for school or any test or nothing. This will be off… the… hook!"

"Just don't drink too much 'soda' this time," Lincoln smirked.

"It was just a little bit of vomit. At least I didn't run away from the main event and hide somewhere."

"That's… not exactly what happened, but whatever."

The two boys sat down on the steps of the porch, each holding an invitation card with eager smiles. Clyde was all in for the festivities. He was looking forward to a night to snacking, drinking, smooching, and all manner of debauchery that would've made his eleven year old self faint. Lincoln, on the other hand, had more calm expectations. All he really needed was a little chance to spend some time with the host herself.

He grinned perversely, but his grin quickly dimmed as he realized something. He stared at the invitation in his hand, and back over to the mailbox. His eyes thinned into a squint, but his thoughts were interrupted by Clyde throwing the second card over to his pale friend.

"I think I'll find my invite in my mailbox. Or maybe at the door. Depends where the drone puts it. See you later, Lincoln."

"Oh, you're not going to hang out?"

Clyde shook his head mournfully. "Sorry, Linc. I'm supposed to be picking up Cleopawtra from the clinic. I just heard the news from Chandler and spun my whole body around to ask you about it. Maybe we'll make some time next week."

"Sure thing, bud. Air hockey sound good?"

"It sure does."

And with that, Clyde ran off to the vet's office. Lincoln wondered why he wasn't taking his car, but then again, knowing that guy, he probably got his license taken by the cops for drunk driving.

_Man, he's changed since I first met him._

Of course, that left Lincoln with an interesting dilemma, as he held two invites in his hand. He knew the second was meant for a guest, but aside from Clyde, he didn't know who else he was supposed to bring. All his other guy friends were probably already invited, and Lincoln realized pretty quickly that bringing a girl as his guest would be a bad idea. He didn't want to look like he was bringing a date…

Unless he brought a girl he couldn't date.

"Lucy!" he called out loud.

"What is it?" Lucy asked, materializing behind him in her borderline supernatural way. Lincoln got his typical jump and shout of surprise out of the way before asking her, "Hey Lucy, Girl Jordan is having another party, and I was just wondering..."

"Don't worry, Lincoln, I'm not busy during the summer. I can watch over everyone else."

"Not that," he said, waving his hand. "Mom and Dad can watch over those four. I wanted to ask if you wanted to come with me. We're supposed to bring a guest, sooo..."

"Sigh. You know I don't do well in the social scene."

"Come on, Luce. Just pretend they're all zombies or something."

"How would that be any different than what I already do?"

Lincoln sighed, his hand running to his chin. Desperate times called for desperate measures, because he sure as hell didn't want to be the one guy who couldn't get a guest. That would be hella embarrassing. "I also heard that Silas is going to be there~" he said in a singsong voice.

Lucy's cheeks were usually pale, which made it harder for her to hide her red blush from her older brother. "O-Oh… Silas is going to be there," she murmured softly, spinning away to try and keep him from seeing. The very thought of the soft-spoken Gothic boy made her knees buckle and her very core pool. Lincoln knew how to take advantage of that, so he carefully placed the invite in her hands.

"So how about we go together, brother and sister? And then we can break off and find our respective _people of interest._"

"So this is all about Girl Jordan, isn't it?"

Lucy smirk was thin, but it was teasing. Lincoln's cheeks went as red as her's, and he coughed and sputtered. "D-Don't be silly. I mean, yeah it is, but I just want you to get of the house sometime too. It's not healthy to stay cooped up writing love poetry for a vampire statue."

"I haven't done that since I was in middle school. Now I write for the cute werewolf boy in the dating sim I got on Christmas," Lucy stuck up her nose haughtily.

Lincoln lifted an eyebrow, and Lucy grinned sheepishly.

"Touche," she muttered as she glided back inside.

"What did I do to end up with some many weird sisters?" Lincoln sighed. He was still glad, though. With Lucy coming with him to the party, that opened up some new doors for him and her. He had someone with him, which was a plus since he could show Girl Jordan he wasn't a lonely loser. And, with any luck, Lucy would have fun at the party. At the end of the day, he was her older brother. He wanted her to enjoy herself a little.

_Definitely going to need to keep her away from the punch. I'll just pair her up with some wholesome kid and that'll be the end of that._

Of course, with the question of what to do with Lucy out of the way, his earlier question returned to him. He gave a troubled look at the mailbox, and huffed a slow breath.

"Now all I need to know is why Girl Jordan didn't give me the invite by hand..."

* * *

"I couldn't risk it," Girl Jordan told Mollie as they helped each other bring out a fold-able table to the backyard. "I just… I just couldn't see him. If I did, I'd probably break down and either start punching him or fucking him."

"TMI, Jordan, TMI."

"Right. Sorry. I don't know, I just couldn't see him face to face. Plus, what if he noticed? My belly's getting a little bigger, and my boobs are starting to feel sore. He would've noticed, don't you think?"

"Given where his eyes tend to wander, yeah, he probably would've. Can't fault you on that. Still, don't you think maybe you're overestimating him just a _teensy _bit."

"Doesn't matter," Girl Jordan said, slamming the legs of the table into the muddy ground. "What's done is done. What matters now is getting this whole party done in time."

"How long do we have to prepare, anyways?" asked Mollie.

"The party is planned for tonight."

"_Tonight_?" Mollie gasped. "As in tonight tonight?"

"Is there any other tonight?"

"Dammit, Jordan… okay, okay, it's fine. Just let me..." Mollie produced her phone from her jacket's upper pocket, and swiftly dialed a number. She pressed the smartphone to her face, and began talking excitedly into it. Girl Jordan watched as the brunette nodded and muttered, until she finally said "Alright, sounds good. Thanks again," and hung up the phone.

"Who was that?"

"Stella. She's coming over, and she's going to call over a few friends to help us."

"Not Cristina?"

"Not Cristina," Mollie promised.

Girl Jordan sighed with relief. "Molls, what would I do without you?"

* * *

Lincoln's eyes rushed past a large selection of orange shirts hanging from their coat-hangers. In the interest of looking presentable to his peers, he had decided earlier to ditch his typical (and favorite) color for something new. He was wearing a white undershirt, which was felt tight enough on his body, but he still needed something more.

His eyes landed on an unbuttoned red shirt towards the back. "Perfect," he said as he put it on. He stepped over to the mirror, and he liked what he saw on the other side. Now the only question was whether he should wear shoes or sandals.

"Definitely sandals," he commented. "Just in case me and Jordan go up to her room again… don't need socks on when I'm in bed~"

He then put on a pair of dog tags around his neck. Just to really emphasize the doucheyness.

Lincoln then went over to Lucy's room, and knocked on the door. "Hey, Luce, are you ready?" he whispered as quietly as a sneaking mouse. Last time he had gone out with his parents' approval, but now that he was taking Lucy, he knew he had to be a bit more sly about it, lest he risk an avalanche of questions or, even worse, a flat-out refusal from his mother. The worst part was that Lola had found out, and demanded a little 'keep quiet' money. Lincoln's wallet had never felt lighter in his pocket.

"Just a second."

The dark-haired girl stepped out of her room by Lincoln's side, and he had to admit, she looked really good. She was busy attaching her bat-shaped earrings to the lobes of her ears (they were clip-ons, much to her disappointment). Below that, she wore a long, black dress, with fishnet covering her arms and legs. And, to top it all of, she wore a purple bow in her silky hair.

"Do I look good, Lincoln?" she asked, with just the faintest hint of a blush.

"You look perfect, Lucy," he smiled.

"You look okay yourself."

"Just okay?"

"It brings out your eyes," Lucy smirked, turning to walk down the stairs, Lincoln following shortly after. Their parents were temporarily distracted, their arguing voices audible from the laundry room downstairs. Poor Lynn Sr. always did forget whether the darks and whites should be separated or not. So while they fought, Lincoln and Lucy rushed out of the door.

They walked out towards Clyde's car, which hummed in waiting for them. Clyde and Penelope waved at Lincoln and Lucy, who waved back as they hopped in. "Didn't think you were going to bring your little sister, Lincoln," Clyde said to him.

"Who else was I supposed to bring? Papa Wheelie?"

"Fair enough," said Clyde with a chuckle. He pushed down on the button that got the engine roaring into the night, like a fierce and powerful horse, before they started driving down the road. Clyde kept his eyes trained and focused on the street, not even giving a second glance to his girlfriend in the seat besides him. After a few minutes of driving, something occurred to Lucy, so she tapped on Lincoln's shoulder.

"Hey, Lincoln, can I ask you something?" she asked, and without waiting for an answer, followed up with, "Are you sure it's a good idea for Girl Jordan to be throwing a party? Especially in her… state."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a stressful job to hold a party, and… oh, wait, you don't know. I forgot you didn't want me to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Sigh. N-Never mind. Something tells me that I shouldn't be the one who lets you know."

Lincoln closed his eyes and settled his head back, pressing it on the comfortable cushiony seating of Clyde's car. "You know, Lucy, when I play a video game and come across a character that just speaks in confusing riddles, I sometimes say to myself 'Man, at least there aren't people like that in real life.' But then I remember you exist."

"Hey, I offered to tell you once," the goth shrugged.

"This is why you and Silas were made for each other. You both talk weird."

A bladed smile grew on her dark lips. "I hope when we have kids, they talk to your kids in the same way. That should be fun."

The car came to a sudden stop, and Clyde turned around to his friend and his friend's sister. "Alright, we're here. Thank you for driving, your fare will cost you about twenty bucks."

"Is that how much it'll cost when the police find out you're driving without your license?"

"We're all rule-breakers tonight, Lincoln Loud," the tan teen grinned.

The four of them stepped out of the car, and Clyde put it in parking. He then wrapped his arm around his redheaded girlfriend's shoulders, and started walking off with her, leaving Lincoln and a very confused Lucy standing by the vehicle.

"He… he's really changed since I last saw him."

"I know, right?! That kid was the biggest kissass teacher's pet in the world. When did he turn out to be such a rebel?"

"Time makes kings out of commoners, and commoners out of kings," Lucy waxed poetically, before taking her brother's hand in her own. "So… shall we?"

"We shall."

The two walked together to the front of the house, getting in line for someone they couldn't see at a booth to take their invites and let them in. They closer they got to the front, the more Lincoln could make out the features; brown hair, purple jacket, the teeth… yeah, it was Mollie. After Cookie stepped in alongside Tabby, Mollie shouted "Next!" which was Lincoln and Lucy's cue to step forward.

When Mollie saw that it was Lincoln up next, her eyes widened in… well, it was hard to describe. Imagine if the words '_It's him!'_ could be captured as an emotion. That's what circled in Mollie's eyes. She bit down in her lip for a moment, and Lincoln wondered if he did anything wrong before Mollie extended her open hand. "Tickets, Lincoln and… I don't think I've seen you around here before."

"This is my sister, Lucy."

"Yo," said Lucy gravelly.

"Oh, she's your sister. Good. I thought… never mind. You got your invites?"

Lincoln dug into his shirt's pocket and pulled out the tickets she wanted. He handed them to her, and Mollie stuffed them into a little metal box by her side. "Alright, you two are good. But one thing before you go anywhere, Lincoln..."

"Yeah?"

"Can I speak to you? To the side?"

Lincoln looked at Lucy, who just nodded her head. "I know, I know. Stay away from Chandler, don't touch the juice, and keep Haiku company. Take care of her, okay?"

"Okay. I don't see how you want me to take care of Mollie, though..."

"I wasn't talking about Mollie," was the last thing the ghastly girl said before she vanished into the crowd of teenagers. Cryptic until the very end. That was the Lucy Loud style.

Lincoln turned back to Mollie, who was glancing from side to side, checking her surroundings for anyone listening over them. The night was black and inky, but the shining colored lights hanging above their heads in paper lamp containers illuminated her sights enough to know that no one was around. She sucked a quick gulp of nervous air through her front teeth and looked the snowy haired boy straight in the eyes. "Girl Jordan told me to tell you to meet her in her room. ASAP."

Lincoln's cheeks spontaneously combusted. "O-Oh."

"Don't get any ideas, perv."

"Sorry, sorry..."

Mollie looked him from head to toes one last time before she sent him off. She really couldn't, for the life of her, see what Girl Jordan saw in this kid. He was cute, sure, but only in the dorkiest way possible. And he was about as pallid as a corpse. What is it about him that made Royal Woods' most fine bachelorette… _former _bachelorette decide that he was the one?

_That's not for you to worry about, Mollie. All you need to do is support your friend, no matter what._

"Yeah, yeah, I know," grumbled Mollie as she watched Lincoln open the side door and disappear inside. "Still, if Jordan chooses a bad dress, I'll make fun of her for it. And if she chooses a skinny guy with no noticeable talents..."

_Hehe I guess that's okay._

* * *

There was a noticeable shift in atmosphere the closer Lincoln got to Girl Jordan's room. The hallway itself was barely lit, and was completely empty as all the other party-goers were kept occupied downstairs. Those two factors, along with the natural cold that swam in the air around Lincoln, gave him the illusion that he could see his breaths.

It felt like a month walking down that hall, but when Lincoln finally made it, he was carefully in reaching for the doorknob. When he touched it, he was almost certain it would explode into shards and slice his hand to meaty bits.

_You're being over-dramatic. It's just Jordan. She just wants to see you privately, you Casanova you._

With that, the Loud boy opened the door.

When he entered, his eyes quickly landed on Girl Jordan, fully clothed (to his disappointment) standing in front of a mirror. She seemed to be… modeling, or something, because she kept touching her stomach and hips. It was only when she placed her hand flat on her butt and started smoothing her palm over her cheek that she looked at the doorway through the mirror and noticed the new set of eyes.

"LINCOLN!" she cried out in shock, stumbling backwards and knocking the mirror to the ground. Thankfully it didn't break. Him walking in on her touching her ass proved to Girl Jordan she didn't need more bad luck.

"J-Jordan. Hi. Uh… Mollie said you wanted to s-see me."

"Mollie said I...? Oh, right, yeah. I… I remember."

For two people that were dating in all but name, they could still be pretty uncomfortable around each other. Must be something about the weather.

"So, Lincoln, how are you? Um… read any good comics lately?"

"Who cares about comics right now? I want to know about you," he said, making Girl Jordan's already weak knees buckle slightly. "It's just that it's been a long time since we… you know..."

"Went out on a date?"

"Yeah, that."

"I'm sorry, Lincoln, I've just been… busy with other things. And you know that phones work both ways, right? You could've called me."

"You're right. Sorry about that. What things were you busy with?"

"My parents. They, uh, dropped in for a little while."

Lincoln blinked. "Your parents? Did you… did you tell them about us? I mean, me?"

_I told them things even you don't know, Lincoln._

"Not much," she said with a cheery beam. It quickly shifted into a dour frown as she felt a painful sensation spread through her lower body. "Ohhh," she groaned as she sat down on her bed. Lincoln jumped to her side protectively, keeping his hand on her back as she sat. "Thank you, Lincoln. I'm feeling a little weak right now."

"N-No problem, Jordan. Are you feeling alright? You seem a little… off," stated Lincoln.

She was still beautiful in his eyes, more beautiful than any girl he had ever seen before her. Even in her current state, no one else could even come close to comparing to her. In fact, the more Lincoln looked at her, the more he noticed an attractive quality. She seemed to radiate with a glowing… motherliness, if that made sense. It reminded him that she was nothing less than a daughter of Venus. However, with all that said, Lincoln was visibly worried. She was sweating, with beads of perspiration dripping down her face and back. Her eyes were a hint redder than usual, and her hair was more frumpy. And her body… Lincoln wasn't going to say it out loud, but she did gain a little weight.

"I'm fine, Lincoln, I… you know what, screw this, I'm not pussyfooting around this."

"Around what?"

Girl Jordan took a deep and calming breath, before she carefully maneuvered her hands around Lincoln's body. She placed one of his chest, right above his heart, where she felt every pounding _beat _pass through his body and reverberate through her's. The other she wrapped around his hand, like a soft cat twirling itself around its master's legs. She looked into his eyes, and felt the pull of her lover in them.

It grounded her.

It made her feel safe.

"Lincoln, when you slept with me that night… you loved me, right?"

"I still do," he whispered.

"So tell me, Lincoln… what do you think love is? Not just us. As a… concept. On some grand, astronomical level. What would you call love?"

Lincoln had to think about it. He wasn't expecting something like this at all. But it clearly mattered to the girl, so he didn't want to half-ass his answer. A library's worth of literature, philosophy, theology, science and his own observations opened up in his mind in a single moment, and he poured over it all in a second.

"Love is… to me, love is something keeps us alive, and makes life worth living. Some loves are different than others. My love for my friends is different than my love for my stuff… and all of that is different than my love for you."

"What is your love for me?"

"It's… it's having a person that you want and need on an existential level. It's not enough to be near them. You have to be _with _them. One and one together. Mind, body and soul. To pour into them, and make something new from the union."

"_Make something new from the union,_" she repeated.

"Yeah. Sorry if that's a weak answer," the young man chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I'm sure someone smarter than me can answer your question."

She shook her head. "No, Lincoln. You already gave me the best answer I could want for."

"So why are you asking anyways?"

"Because, Lincoln… that night we were together," she started her confession, "the protection we used… that rubber that was meant to keep us slightly apart…"

His eyebrows were beginning to rise, so Girl Jordan knew she had to speed it up.

"Something happened with it, and… and..."

_Three words, Jordan. It's just three words._

"… and..."

_THREE WORDS, JORDAN! SAY THEM!_

"Lincoln, I'm pregnant!" she cried.

She fell back on her bed, pressing her wet eyes against the blanket. She kept them placed there, even as she felt the weight shifting on her bed. After eons passed, she raised her head to check on Lincoln…

The door was open, and he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Saturday morning. For most people, Saturday was the day of relaxation. Sure, some people had to work, and some people had extra schooling hours, but Lincoln Loud had neither. When he woke up to the crashing sound of Lily rushing downstairs to watch her morning cartoons, he smiled to himself as he mentally mapped out the day ahead…

Only for the events of last night to hit him with enough force to send him flying off the bed.

No, wait, that was just Lucy.

"You asshole!" cried Lucy in a voice more emotional than usual. Her face was twisted with anger and sadness, and Lincoln automatically knew he deserved it. "How could you just go home without me? I spent so much time looking for you. I was worried about you, you… you..."

"I'm sorry, Lucy."

"Sorry doesn't cut it," she spat. "Was this some kind of sick prank? Or was this whole thing about setting me up with one of your friends?"

"It's nothing like that. I just had to leave because… uh..."

"Because?" Lucy demanded.

"I don't think I can answer that without making you hate me more," Lincoln admitted, hanging his head low.

Lucy growled. It was the kind of growl a rabid wolverine uttered right before it tore every tendon and muscle in your body with its froth-covered teeth. Lincoln closed his eyes and raised his arms in defense, ready for the punishment he was about to receive from his little sister… but nothing happened. He carefully opened one eye, and watched as the goth glared at him with a loathsome frown. Her dark black sweater was falling off her shoulder, so Lucy pulled it back up as she stood. She walked out of his room without another word…

A bit like he did with Girl Jordan last night.

Lincoln sighed. That made two girls he had wronged, and two girls that wriggled themselves into the guilt corner of his mind. He'd make it up to Lucy eventually. It wasn't like this was the first time he had run off and left her behind somewhere, as sad as that was to admit. He promised himself to never do that again, and really work hard to make it up to her. But when his mind fluttered to the other girl, he knew he had screwed up badly. Maybe even irreversibly.

"So I'm going to be a father, huh?" he said to himself, lying flat on the ground and pressing his head to the carpeted floor. The thought was surreal. He had always thought of himself as responsible, and had assumed he would be responsible enough to avoid becoming a teen dad. He knew he was going to be a dad _someday, _and he even cherished the mushy romantic ideal of growing old with his kids surrounding him as he rocked on his rocking chair. But being a dad at his current age, not even in college yet… it felt weird.

But that didn't justify him booking it the way he did. But what was he supposed to do? Just pretend like this wasn't some huge, life-changing event and act like this was Jordan saying, _"Yeah, I have the flu. Can you stay up here and rub my back for me? K thnx."_

Thoughts of worry flooded his mind when she broke the news to him. What if it wasn't just one baby, and instead was twins or triplets? He couldn't feed that many kids. Or what if Girl Jordan ended up getting really hurt giving birth? What if she di-… god, Lincoln didn't even want to think about that. What if her parents were really pissed at him? What if he couldn't finish high school or college? What if… what if he wasn't ready to be a good dad?

That last one stung him the most. The rest he really couldn't help, but that last one was the stamp of his own character. He could fail badly, he knew. He tried picturing himself as a father, and the images that danced before his closed eyes horrified him. Scenes of neglect played out in his mind. Every act of neglect he had inflicted on his younger sisters was one he could repeat with his child. Or worse. The thought made him queasy.

"Still, I shouldn't have ran," he scolded himself with a weighty sigh. "Why am I worrying about what kind of dad I'd be if I just proved how terrible of a boyfriend I am?"

She needed him, and he left her.

He considered reaching for his phone to send her a text to apologize, but what was he even supposed to say?

"I need to talk to someone," Lincoln decided. "That'll get my thoughts in order."

And he knew just the people to talk to.

He got up off the ground and ran downstairs, heading straight for his parents' room. His fist banged on their door, and he shouted "MOM! DAD!" several times until he paused for a moment when he realized he wasn't yielding results. He put his ear against the door, and listened to the sweet sound of nothing. "Where are they?"

"Mom and Dad are out right now," Lana said from the kitchen. Lincoln ducked his head around the corner to see her and Lisa sitting at the kitchen table. The tomboy was munching on spoonfuls of cereal, sometimes feeding it to the lizard hanging on her shoulder, while Lisa ate a banana and read the nutrition facts on the box, frowning at the quantity of sugar.

"I'd like to add that our parentals are incredibly unhappy with you and Lucy, and are considering a multitude of punishments for you two, to be announced when they return. Mostly for you, though, considering how displeased they are with the way you abandoned our gloomy sister unit," Lisa added helpfully.

"Will you guys be quiet? I'm trying to watch TV," complained Lily.

"Sorry, Lils, but this is more important than watching a girl make friends with frogs," Lincoln said.

The youngest sister _hmph_'ed.

"But seriously, Lana, Lisa, I really need to talk to them. Do you know where they are?"

"What's so important that you need to talk to them anywa-"

"CAN YOU JUST TELL ME WHERE THE FUCK THEY ARE?!"

All three girls gasped. Lincoln may have gotten angry with them before, but he never got so vicious and vulgar about it. Especially not in front of Lily. The gravity of the situation quickly made itself clear to Lisa, who tossed the cereal and banana on the table and grabbed her brother's arm. "My room. Now," she insisted in a tone that told him she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

As she dragged him away, Lincoln mouthed _Sorry_ at the visibly shaken Lily and the wide-mouthed Lana.

_Congrats, bud. Four girls you've screwed up with in less than a day. You going for the all-time record?_

Lincoln groaned. This was going to be a long, and non-relaxing, Saturday.

* * *

Lisa sat Lincoln on a squeaky swivel chair by her desk, then sat herself on a tall wooden stool right besides him. The scientist put on an inquisitive look as she stared at her brother's face, studying it without saying a word. Lincoln didn't say a word either, for fear he might say something that would offend. When it seemed like she was satisfied, she reached into her desk and pulled out a notepad and a blue pen. Ripping the cap off with her teeth, she wrote down a few bullet points before asking Lincoln directly, "How sexually active are you, brother?"

If Lincoln had anything in his mouth, he would've spit it out. "Lisa!"

"Relax, Lincoln," she said. "I know that discussing such details with me, your younger sibling, would produce feelings of embarrassment and 'cringe' as it's called, but don't think of me as your favorite sister. Think of me purely as a medical professional."

"Favorite sister?"

She grinned.

"Doesn't matter. Lisa, I'm not going to talk to you about stuff like that. And what makes you even think to ask that?"

"You seemed desperate to find our parental units earlier, and a boy your age only seeks out his parents when he's in extremely dire need. Furthermore, you are at the age where the sexual temptations and urges you've felt for the past five years, give or take, manifest in the form of finding a sexual partner. You have also been attending parties, filled to the brim with attractive women, all of which leads me to conclude that you have formed a relationship. Most likely with that Jordan female, seeing how much casual time you've been spending with her."

"What does that have to do with anger, though?"

"Oh. Males are angriest when they expect sex and receive none," Lisa said with an award-winning smile.

"Well… do you promise not to talk about this with anyone?"

"You have my word. Doctor-patient confidentiality is my code."

It was still something that was uncomfortable to talk about, but what other choice did he have? He needed to tell _someone_, so why not Lisa? She'd probably already seen him naked about ten times over on her creepy cameras, so this would be nothing compared to that… right?

_I can't believe I'm doing this._

"Okay, fine. Me and Girl Jordan… we've kinda become a thing."

Lisa clapped her hands together with glee. Doctor or not, she was still a girl happy for her brother.

"And we… one time, a few months ago… well, we were in her room, and we were talking and having a good time, and the mood was so nice, that…"

"I understand. Say no more."

"But I do need to say more," Lincoln said, looking at her with more intensity in his eyes. "Because even though I put on protection, she… I don't know if it was ripped or defective or one of the billion other things that could've happened but she ended up..."

Lisa's eyes widened behind her spectacles, and Lincoln exhaled dramatically. He could almost understand how difficult it was for her to tell him. What she had been feeling before the reveal must've been so much more intense than how he felt now.

"… she ended up pregnant," he finally said, in a voice lower than a whisper.

"When did she tell you?" Lisa asked, trying to maintain a neutral tone.

"Last night."

"I see. That explains everything."

The girl in the lab coat scribbled down some more notes while her brother watched. She set the notepad down on her desk as soon as she was done, and let out a cool sigh.

Pregnancy. That was a new one. It wasn't her first time dealing with the concept, as she's worked with animal pregnancies several times. Her own lab mice were a good example. She set the rodents to reproducing, never interfering, and often wrote down the number of new baby rats they spawned from their unions. On a larger scale, she had worked with some farmers to fix a sterile sow they were having trouble with. But in _humans_? In her own _family?_ This was new.

And one thing she knew: she wasn't prepared to talk about it.

"Lincoln, the most important thing right now is for you to keep a level-head. Second… indeed, I do think you made the right choice by seeking out Mother and Father for guidance. However, the two of them are away right now..."

"Away? Like where away? I thought they were at the supermarket or something!"

"No, it's more like 'take a vacation from Royal Woods' away."

Lincoln groaned. "So what you're saying is that they just up and left you guys under my supervision while they're thinking of ways to ground me, and that they told me none of this before they left? Honestly, why am I so surprised? They've done worse."

"Lincoln, focus. Your mate is bearing your offspring. That should be the main priority pounding away in your Neanderthal brain!"

"Can you not say things like 'mate' and 'offspring'? It sounds so scientific."

"Exactly the point I was trying to get to, before you insisted on interrupting me," Lisa narrowed her eyes with a scowl, before continuing with "I am not the best person to seek out for these matters. I can give you the scientific side, yes. I can write down a food pyramid and recommend stretches, but I can't provide you the more spiritual and familial advice that you'll need. And truthfully, I'm scared to do so. I'm only a middle school student, and I have much to learn before I can advise on something as important and sacred as pregnancy. I need experiences I do not yet have. Which is why I want you to talk to someone who does have those experiences."

"Who? Mom?" asked Lincoln.

"No. Our mother, as sound as her knowledge would be, is notoriously hard to reach when she's away. Instead, I want you to find Lori."

"Lori? Why Lori?"

"Haven't you heard?" Lisa titled her head quizzically. "Lori is expecting."

"Sh-She is?"

"Good God, Lincoln, don't tell me this is the first you've heard of it."

"I… well, no, but I'm just kinda stressed and I forgot... can we back on track here?"

Lisa rolled her eyes. The sheer obliviousness of her older brother was something she would never wrap her head around, no matter how hard she tried.

"Lincoln, take a taxi to visit Lori and Bobby. Talk to her. I'm sure she can give you more sound advice than I could ever hope to."

"Alright! Wait… wait, no, I can't," he realized with despondence. "I'm supposed to look after you guys. I can't just leave you all without someone in charge-"

"I can do that."

That was the moment that Lucy finally decided to announce her presence. Her two siblings gasped in surprise, not jumping as they often did due to how common her sudden appearances had become. Before Lincoln could say anything in turn, Lucy put her arms around her brother and hugged him. "Lincoln, I'm so sorry," she said, tightening her grip on him. "I overhead everything and… I'm sorry. I should've talked to you. I should've noticed that you were overcome with your new tribulations instead of just assaulting you in a fit of anger."

"Don't be sorry, Luce," the white haired boy said. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I should've picked you up before I took off. I mean, I shouldn't have taken off at all, but… God, I'm so messed up right now."

"It's okay, Lincoln."

"You know… you don't seem really surprised by the big news," Lincoln noted. "You aren't surprised that I've impregnated someone?"

"Sigh. I've known for a while. I have my… _sources_."

"Of course you know," he sighed. "Seems like everyone knows everything about this thing except for me. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I'm just so messed up right now."

"That's why you should go to Lori. She can tell you what you need to do."

"But Lucy, I..."

"Go, Lincoln," she ordered him with a smile. "I won't make you clean up guano for this favor."

Lincoln had been through a lot the past day. It seemed like his entire life had been flipped over when he discovered that he was to be a parent. But with every punch and sting the world had tossed at him, he never felt like breaking down. Until now. Now, his eyes were tearing up, and he sniffled sensitively. He threw his arms around Lucy and Lisa, and hugged them both as tightly as he could, their soft cheeks pressing against his wet face.

"God, what did I do to deserve the best sisters in the world?" he croaked.

* * *

Saturday morning. For most people, Saturday was the day of relaxation. Sure, some people had to work, and some people had extra schooling hours, but Lori Loud had neither. When she woke up to the crashing sound of Bobby rushing downstairs to watch his morning cartoons, she smiled to herself as she mentally mapped out the day ahead…

Only to be hit with a wave of nausea.

"Careful, little guy. Mommy just got up," the blonde groaned, patting her swollen body. "You wouldn't want me to throw up all the food I ate for you yesterday, right?"

"Lori, who are you talking to?"

Lori looked up to see her younger sister Leni standing in the doorway, dressed in a light green bathrobe and staring at her with wide and curious eyes. Like the eyes of a really curious child, Lori liked to think. Or a bunny. Bunnies were a handy metaphor in this family.

"It's not important, Leni," Lori responded, not in the mood to go into another explanation about why she talked to her belly. "But since you're here, can you do me a favor?"

Leni, being the sweet angel she was, replied immediately with "Anything."

"Can you get me some water? Actually, water makes me sick if I don't put some flavor in my mouth beforehand. Get some juice with it. And milk, I feel like milk. Oh, and coffee too… you know what, just get me a glass of everything that's drinkable."

"I'll mix it all up in a smoothie. Gotta keep that bod tight," said Leni.

Lori let out a barking laugh. "Being tight is literally the last thing I need right now."

"Oh, right. You know I meant."

"I do. Thanks Leni," Lori said with an appreciative smile. When Leni disappeared to go make the drink, Lori lay back and thought about what she was getting into. Normally, the idea of mixing water, coffee, milk, tea, various fruits and hints of soda would've disgusted her, but for some reason it sounded really good at the moment.

"And it's basically breakfast in bed," figured Lori aloud. "My favorite."

She reached behind her to prop up her pillow, and lay her sore back against it with a slow exhale. It didn't feel completely comfortable, so she tried fluffing it a few times. That didn't work, so she gave up and decided to instead distract herself with her thoughts.

Naturally, her thoughts drifted towards her family.

Lori had never been especially homesick. She loved her family deeply, she really did, but aside from pangs of homesickness that she got when she rolled around in bed after midnight, she was content with her new life. She had a loving, doting husband, and she even kept her sister around as a comforting presence. Most importantly, she had a child of her own coming soon to a hospital near her. And maybe it was the thoughts of her future child's life that sent her digging through her old memories of Franklin Ave.

And_ that_ made her feel homesick.

"Maybe I'll call Luna later today," she found herself planning. "Or maybe I'll call everyone still at home. I think Lynn's the oldest one there. Or maybe it was Lincoln. Dunno anymore."

Gah. She used to be on top of these things.

Leni came in after that and handed Lori the cup of concentrated… everything. With a little platter to top off the presentation. Lori smiled and thanked her again, then took a sampling sip. She licked her lips to try and decide the flavor, but oddly found that the drink had little flavor, as if the sweet and the bitter and the sour had canceled each other out.

Oh, no, wait, there was an aftertaste. It tasted exactly like Lori thought it would be. A million flavors at once. Still, not bad. 10/10 would smear on lips again

She decided to rest up a little, feeling drowsy despite the hit of caffeine that was (supposedly) in the blend. When Lori was woken up for the second time that day, it was because Leni was excitedly rubbing her arm. "Lori, you've got a visitor," she said with giggling glee. Leni's excitedness made Lori suspect it was a sibling that was visiting.

"Tell them I'll be with them in a second," she yawned, before rolling over to get more sleep.

"Lori, I know you're just trying to shoo me away and get more sleep. It's not going to work this time," Leni said sternly, planting her hands on her hips.

"Fine, you win," Lori sighed. She hissed as she got out of bed, helped to her feet by her younger sister. She waddled to the door, opening it and quickly checking downstairs to see if she could catch a glimpse of her disturbance. Uh, I mean, _visitor_.

She saw a head of white, and nodded. "Lincoln." Her whisper was low to make sure he couldn't hear it. "It's been a while since we've talked. I wonder if he's tied the knot with that Jordan girl he really liked~"

_More importantly, I wonder what he's here for._

Whatever it was, it better have been worth the cost of her going down the stairs. Her sore legs complained under her weight, and every step downwards felt like pure agony. By the time she got to the bottom, she decided that she would sleep on the bottom floor from then on. Still, she tried to put on a graceful air as she walked over to her younger brother. "Hey twerp," she said affectionately.

Lincoln was visibly nervous, but still managed a chuckle and a groan. "Come on, Lori, I'm almost ending high school. Can't call me that anymore."

"Doesn't matter how old you are, I get to call you whatever I feel like."

The two hugged, and Lincoln congratulated her. He even got her one of those cute little cards from the gas station.

"Thanks, little bro," she said, "but I doubt you came all the way out on a two hour-"

"Three hour. Traffic sucked."

"Fine. _Three_ hour long drive just to say hello and give me a card."

His face fell. "No… no, I didn't..."

He sat down on one of the less cushiony couches, saving the more comfortable ones for Lori. He looked up at Leni, and asked if they could have the room to themselves. Leni's smile dipped slightly, but it quickly resurfaced. "Of course. I'll just be in my room working on my new design. Ooh, it'll be so cute when the baby puts it on."

When Leni left, Lori and Lincoln stared at each other. The young man was twiddling his thumbs as he thought about what he wanted to say. Several times he opened his mouth, just to close it, giving him the appearance of a rather stupid fish gasping for air. He cleared his throat and looked away, glancing up at the clock. He still had the whole afternoon ahead of him. A whole afternoon to give Lori the good news. Thankfully, she didn't rush him...

"Hey, Lincoln, I like your company and everything, but can you please hurry up with what you want to say?"

Never mind.

"It's pretty hard to talk about, to be honest," he sighed.

"Lincoln, it's me. We've talked about a lot together. Trust me."

He smiled lightly at her. If Lincoln ever made a list of Lori's traits, he knew he'd put 'great older sister' somewhere very close to the top. Maybe nestled somewhere between 'angry' and 'nosy'.

He took a deep breath first, then coughed as he choked on it flowing through his constricted chest. "Alright, Lori, the truth is… well, I came to you specifically because you're going through the same thing I'm going through right now."

Lori blinked in shock. "You're pregnant? Jesus Christ, what did Lisa do to you?"

"No, not that! Not exactly the same. I… I..."

It took Lori a few moments to get it, but when it hit her, she gasped. "Lincoln..."

"Yeah. I was with Girl Jordan at her place, and one thing led to another, and… well, we tried to be safe, but I guess it didn't work since she told me yesterday that she took a test and… it came back positive," he finally admitted.

"Lincoln… wow, that's a lot for me to take in," Lori said, stunned. She let out a high-pitched giggle, trying to diffuse some of the tension, because really what was she supposed to do? She knew Lincoln looked up to her as some reliable quasi-omniscient sister, but teen pregnancy was… unreal…

"Well, congrats, first off. You're, um, going to be a dad. That's neat."

"That's the problem. I can't be a dad at my age! I still haven't even left college yet. I don't have a job. How am I supposed to take care of a family when I can barely take care of myself?!"

His breaths were getting heavier and louder. He was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"I mean, I literally just left Lucy alone and without a ride home. What if I do with that with Jordan? What if I do that with the baby?"

"Lincoln..."

"No, seriously, just leave them all alone. I mean, you saw me with Lily when she was a baby. I left her alone in the mall and the park. Two separate occasions! I suck at this, I can't do this!"

Lori reached over to her brother, pulled her hand back and…

_SLAP!_

His face flew to the side so fast his neck popped. He looked back at Lori with hurt eyes, and reached up to rub his slapped cheek. "Ow. What'd you do that for?"

"Did you finally calm down?"

"I guess."

"Good," Lori said with a satisfied nod. She set herself back down on her seat, and let out a moan of discomfort as she settled down. "And now that you're calm… tell me, Lincoln, where is Jordan right now? What did you do when she told you?"

Upon her utterance of those questions, the towheaded boy hung his head low, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. "She held another party," he started, "and she took me up to her room just like last time. I guess she wanted it to be kinda… romantic. Or reminiscent. The point is that we sat together and then she told me… and I didn't know what to do. So I ran."

To his surprise, Lori didn't chastise him or yell at him. There was a look of… pity, he guessed, on her face, but if she was thinking about a way to criticize him, she didn't announce it. Instead, she followed up her questions with more questions, each conveyed in a calm voice.

"Does anyone else know?"

"I don't know if she told anyone. As for me… I told Lisa, and Lucy overheard me and her talking."

"What about Mom and Dad?"

"They're not around. Which is why Lisa told me to talk to you."

"Are you thinking about… well, let me ask this instead; if you had the chance to give your baby up for adoption, or have someone like Mom or me take care of the baby instead of you and Jordan, would you take it?"

He thought about that before answering. His pause gave Lori hope. _At least he's trying to think responsibly._

"I don't know," he admitted, shrugging. "I'd feel weird about having someone else raise my kid. Even if it was someone close."

"Aw. So you're already feeling fond of the little guy," Lori pointed out.

"What? I mean… uh..."

The older woman reached over to touch her brother, and he flinched, expecting her to hit him again. Instead her hand landed flat on his shoulder, where she gripped her brother tightly and confidently. "Lincoln, listen to me," she said. "I know this is a scary situation for you. I know you might feel like the walls are closing in around you, and that your life is lost, and most of all like you're not ready. And it's true, in a small way. You haven't always been the most responsible. You haven't always put your family's needs ahead of your own. You haven't always kept a careful eye out for your younger sisters. And you did pretty much run away when Jordan confessed to you..."

He cringed uncomfortably.

"… but that doesn't mean for a second that you're _always_ like that."

Her lips sharply smiled, confident and proud of the young man her baby brother had become. "When push comes to shove, you can be the best person to rely on. You can be selfless, you can be responsible, you can be smart and resourceful and kind and caring and sweet, you can be all those things and more. You just need to believe in yourself."

"But-"

"Before you start blabbering about 'but', do you mind if I tell you how Bobby reacted when I first told him?"

Lincoln shook his head, so Lori began her tale. "Me and Bobby had been trying for a baby for a while. And when it finally happened, I was literally so happy I cried. The moment Bobby got home from work, I threw my arms around him and told him the news. Do you know what he did next?"

Lincoln shook his head.

"He screamed. Screamed like a little girl," Lori laughed.

"Why? I thought he wanted to have a baby with you."

"Oh, he did. But when it finally happened, when the idea was finally reality, all the same anxieties you have popped into his mind. It took me a while to calm him down," Lori pressed a finger to her chin, thinking. "I think I might've had to give him something to drink to really get him to sit down. Something sedative."

She waved her hand. "The point is that when he finally felt better, he was practically bouncing with joy. Finally he'd have a Bobby Jr. Jr. He was so thrilled that immediately ran down to the store and bought two hundred dollars' worth of baby stuff that I know for a fact we don't need."

"Okay, but it's different with you two. You're both adults, you're both married, you're both out of college and he has a job. I don't have any of that," Lincoln complained.

"I'm not saying it'll be easy," Lori agreed sympathetically. "I honestly really wish you had just kept it in your pants. But maybe you won't think about this as if it's some great obstacle. Maybe… maybe you'll see that this is a great opportunity."

"How?"

"You're bringing life into the world, Lincoln. You and her are performing a miracle. At least think about that."

That… that wasn't untrue.

She kissed him on his forehead, and whispered into his ear, "And you won't be alone for all of this. You have our younger sisters. You have Mom and Dad. You have Leni and Luna and Luan and Lynn. You have me and Bobby. You have your friends. And most of all… you have her. We're all here for you. Both of you. Family doesn't abandon family. Especially when a new member is arriving in a few months."

"L-Lori..."

He hugged her, and buried his face in her shoulder. She could feel a cold wetness in her shirt, but she didn't mind it much. She let the boy lay with her. His body pressed against her's said more than any words could convey.

"It'll be alright," she soothed. "It'll be alright."

Finally, after what was only minutes but felt like hours, the two siblings broke their hug. "Thanks Lori," Lincoln said. "I feel a little better. I still don't know what to do, though."

"Oh, that's the easy part."

"What?"

"Find Jordan, and apologize for being an inconsiderate little prick. Then talk to her about what you two want to do now," Lori said sternly.

Lincoln shivered. "And what part of that is supposed to be easy?"

"The part where I tell you to do it," she smiled, pinching his already sore cheek.

He stayed for a little while after that, just talking to Lori about more casual topics. When Bobby got home later, the two friends greeted each other with their secret special handshake before Bobby went off to stumble into his room and pass out on his bed. And when Lincoln finally left, Lori watched as he got in the taxi, just to keep him in her sights a little while longer. His visit really made her realize how much she missed her siblings.

She watched as the cab drove off, and Lori smiled maternally.

"So, Lori, what was that all about?" Leni asked, walking up to her older sister.

Lori turned to her. "Leni, you know those clothes you've been making for the baby..."

"Yeah. What about them?"

"You might want to start sewing for two..."

* * *

He tried to send her some texts, to see if she would be willing to talk. Unfortunately, there was no response. This would have to be personal, Lincoln realized with a sigh.

He directed the driver to Girl Jordan's house, rather than his own. The driver, a squat Albanian man, wasn't one for conversation, which left Lincoln staring out the window. The long summer days meant that the Sun was still hovering over the horizon, the sky still bright blue with only the faintest hint of pink. He looked up at the clouds, trying to make fun shapes of them. That one looked like a sheep, that one looked like a seal, that one looked like a beach ball, that one looked like… like a baby.

"Alright, I get it," he mumbled.

The car passed through a gate, and Lincoln knew he was getting closer. He focused on his breaths to calm his mind. Still, it gave him a jump of fright when the vehicle finally stopped in front of Girl Jordan's house.

"Here is stop," said the driver in his accented voice. Lincoln thanked him and gave him his fare, then stepped out, pressing his shoes on the sidewalk. He took a sniff of the air, and coughed. Yep, it smelled like a party. Despite his guilt, he couldn't help but wonder what Girl Jordan did after he left. Probably not drinking. Pregnant or not, she didn't like alcohol.

"Welp, here goes," Lincoln announced.

He took one step forward, then two steps back.

"Come on, Lincoln. Don't be a pussy."

Up the steps of the porch he went. He stood before the imposing door, fist raised and ready to knock. He inched his hand forward, until he could feel the wood touching his knuckles. It was now or never, so before he could stop himself, he banged his fist against the door.

Then he stood there, petrified like a victim of Medusa. He could hear footsteps on the other side, dashing to answer the door. "You know there's a doorbell," came a feminine voice, followed by a series of metal _clankings_ and _clinkings _as the locks were undone. The door swiftly opened, and Lincoln found himself staring into the face of…

Mollie.

The brunette took a moment, before her face twisted into a scowl of disgust. "Oh, it's _you_."

"H-Hey, Mollie. Is Girl Jordan home?"

"She is. You're lucky her dad isn't, though. From what I heard, he wants to snap your neck."

"Good for him. I'm not here to see him. I'm here to see Girl Jordan."

"You mean like how you saw her last night? You know, before you ran out on her."

Lincoln squinted. "You know about that?"

"I know about a lot of stuff, Loud," she said as she crossed her arms. "I know about you and Jordan hooking up. I know that you were too much of a dumbass to put protection on correctly. I know her parents and I had to console her about everything while you were being an oblivious jackass. And I know about last night."

Lincoln wanted to protest that he _did _put on protection correctly, but that wasn't really the point. "I get why you're angry, and you know what, I deserve it. I deserve to be called a dumbass and a jackass..."

"Oh, I got more. You're also a weasel, a cockroach, a moron, a pansy, a horndog, an idiot, a fuckwit..."

"_But,_" Lincoln interrupted, "I'm here to make things right. I want to talk to her."

"Do you know how much I had to console her last night? Do you know how bad she's felt today? I'm not letting you in," growled Mollie.

"I'm not asking," Lincoln said, suddenly feeling a rush of aggressiveness. "I'm demanding."

"Ooh, tough guy."

They glared into each other's eyes. If one of them could kill with their looks, the entire block would be dead. The possibility of a fight popped into Mollie's mind. She knew that Lincoln could hold his own in a fight, so she would have to be careful if it erupted into something physical. But it seemed like only Mollie was having the _fight _response. Lincoln was thinking of _flight_.

"Fine," he finally surrendered, turning around. "I'll leave."

"Wait, seriously? You're just giving up?" Like that?"

"If you really think I shouldn't see her, I'll assume you have your reasons. You… you know her better than I do, I guess," said Lincoln with a sad note. "Just promise me one thing, Mollie… look after her. She's in for a hard few months... because of me."

The look on her face seemed to rapidly change, going between states of confusion, triumph, guilt and back to confusion. Lincoln didn't stay to see what other feeling would reveal itself. He turned completely around and jammed his hands into his pockets, digging his nails painfully into his palm in a form of self-immolation. He had hardly walked five steps before he heard Mollie cry "Wait!"

He turned.

She stepped to the side, out of the door frame, and gestured him in.

A grateful smile touched his mouth as he walked up the porch again, and set his foot inside the large home. He stopped again, however, when he felt Mollie put her hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know what you think of me, but I just want you to know that I don't hate you. Well, I didn't always hate you. Maybe I haven't been the friendliest person in the world, but I do… did… think of us as friends. But then you went ahead and did all this. So, Lincoln… please give me a reason to go back to liking you."

"I hope I can."

"Hope is for cereal mascots and people in jail. Tell me you will. One hundred percent you will."

He didn't hesitate to say, "I will."

She let go of him, and he journeyed on.

If this were a video game, then Lincoln would be walking to the final boss. It wasn't an apt metaphor, but the mind can only draw parallels with what it knows, and Lincoln's mind was drunk on the personal myth he had built on RPGs. He was a rogue, stripped of armor and more vulnerable than ever, still marching on to meet his final challenge in the lair of the princess. He didn't feel brave, though. He felt frightful and worried.

_Maybe it's easier to swing a longsword at goblins than it is to confront the rest of your life._

When he saw her room at the end of the hall, door slightly ajar, he bit down and charged. He ran across the upper floor, thunder bursting from every stomp. His elbow met the door and it burst open, Lincoln falling to the floor soon after.

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" he cried.

He looked up to the recipient of his apology, and there she was. Girl Jordan. Elegant, smart, kind, beautiful Girl Jordan, combing her hair on her bed, staring down at him with complete confusion.

"W-what? Why did you just burst into my room like that? And why are you bowing?"

His cheeks began to burn as he realized how melodramatic he was being.

He stood up straight, still blushing. "Because… because I'm sorry, Jordan. About yesterday, about everything."

"As you should be," she said. All trace of confusion was gone from her face and tone, instead replaced by a frosty coldness.

"I get that you're angry. You have ever right to be. But please, let me explain," pleaded Lincoln.

"What's there to explain? I let you stick your _thing _in me, and when I come to tell you that I'm pregnant, after agonizing over it for days, you run away. I think that sends a pretty clear message. All I am to you is s-someone that gets you... off..."

"You're assuming the worst about me."

"And why shouldn't I?"

"Just… please..."

Her eyes were so narrow they were slit-like. She seemed to be holding back a vicious volley of insults, as she said, as slowly as possible, "Go on."

"Thank you," he thanked breathlessly, before coughing to prepare himself for his explanation. But just before he uttered the first word... his words trailed off as he looked at her -_ truly_ looked at her.

Her eyes, as frigid as they were, still shimmered with the vibrant color that hid in her long lashes. Her mouth was thin with displeasure, but even then they were beckoning to him; two lips sculpted from soft stone for him to kiss when he became worthy enough. As his eyes trailed down her body, drinking in the curves and shapeliness of her, his heart began to pound faster behind his ribs. The aura around her and the light that shone down on her smooth hair and silky skin made Lincoln feel like a true fool for not noticing the maternal energy that ran through her. It attracted him like a magnet, telling him that he was her partner, the father of the child they had made together... it didn't hit him until that exact moment what it truly meant to be with her and her child.

But now he knew, he realized as his breath hitched. Now he felt the responsibility and love that came with his revelation.

All that remained... was figuring out how to tell her.

"Listen, it's true that I ran off after you told me, but it's not for the reasons you think! I didn't do it because that's all you are to me. I love you, Jordan. You mean so much more to me than you think you do. Every time I close my eyes, there you are. Every time I think about what matters to me the most, there you are. You've become my whole world, Jordan. I honestly can't live without thinking about you anymore."

Her chilly eyes seemed to sparkle at his words. Her hand traveled to her chest, pressing against her heart.

"I know it was wrong for me to leave you when you clearly needed me to say something, but I didn't run off because I was thinking about myself. I did it because I was thinking about _you_. I was thinking about our baby. I was scared, Jordan. I was scared of disappointing you_. _I was scared of hurting you_. _I was scared of doing anything, _anything_, that would make you frown, even for just a second. And then I did all those things without meaning to. I suck, Jordan. I fucking suck!"

"Lincoln..." she said his name softly.

"I don't expect you to forgive me. Not now. But I just want you to know that so many times while we were together having fun, I was thinking about us becoming… more. A family. I wanted that, Jordan. I still do. I don't even care anymore that it's happening while we're still teenagers. Because… because I'm just lucky enough to be with someone as amazing as you..."

Lincoln wanted to keep pouring his heart out. He knew he had such a small chance to gain forgiveness from her, but if it meant spilling everything inside, he would do it. But the physical body often cannot keep up with the intentions of the heart and mind, as he soon found himself coughing as the sharp pains in his ragged throat became unbearable, the guilt over his wrongdoing manifesting in the physical plane.

"Lincoln..." he heard her say as he finished, "… I… I don't know what to say. I didn't know you felt this strongly about me. I didn't know you felt about me… the same way I do about you."

"I'm not asking you to completely forgive me now. But..." He paused for a moment, blinking, before he smiled softly at her. "But I just want our family back together."

His voice was soft... but it ignited an explosion.

Perhaps it was the chemicals rushing through her body, or perhaps it was the magical touch of love, but Girl Jordan felt her lip quiver. Her vision began to blur. One moment Lincoln was standing in front of her, the next he was replaced by a wet blotch of orange and white.

_Am I… crying?_

She launched herself at Lincoln, wrapping her arms around her soulmate. And she cried. She cried loudly into his ear and on his shoulder, keeping her hands on Lincoln's body. He sniffled himself, but did not shed a tear, for he was all out. Instead, he touched her back, then drew her in to hug.

And then... their lips locked.

They had work to do, they both knew. Such a huge responsibility had been dumped into their lap, and they knew they had to work for a long time to ensure their child's happiness. It would take sacrifice, but it was worth it, they both thought. For their child… anything.

But now wasn't the time to worry about the future. They were two teens in love, and while they kissed, the present was all they could think about.

When their lips separated, she whispered something sweetly into her ear...

"_I love you, Lincoln Loud._"


	7. Chapter 7

"I HATE YOU, LINCOLN LOUD!"

She screamed this as she squeezed his hand so tightly it turned purple in less than a second. He almost cried out in pain, but he knew this wasn't his place to be in pain. It was hers. For a few hours now, she had been calling out in pain on her hospital bed as the contractions became more and more unbearable.

That's right. The time had finally come.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to leave!" one of the doctors yelled at Lincoln over Jordan's loud screaming and her kicking legs.

"I can't just leave her alone!" Lincoln called back.

"She's with professionals, young man. Move!"

She looked into his eyes, and he noticed how red and puffy they were. The sweat pooling from her forehead had been dripping in and poisoning her eyes with salt. Still, they were able to plead with him all the same. _Please don't leave, _they begged of him.

"I'll be right outside," he said softly, with a smile. He doubted she could hear him, but maybe it was something about his smile that calmed her down, and seemed to put her in a state of… less pain.

He was shooed outside and down the hall to the waiting room, and it was there that he faced both his family and her family. His sisters smiled at him, her parents glowered at him, and his own parents, too wrapped up in their own excitement, ignored him. Lynn Sr. was gripping his camera with a wide grin, while Rita muttered prayers with the speedy force of a machine gun and rubbed the wooden rosary in her hands so quickly that the fact it didn't catch fire was its own Biblical miracle.

His eyes traveled past them all to meet Lori's. His eldest sister was sitting in a chair, her own child in her arms. The young baby, whom Bobby and Lori named Albert in honor of his great-grandfather, stared blankly at the ceiling, drool spilling over at the side of his mouth. Lincoln walked over and touched his nephew's cheek, and the baby giggled.

How such a simple sound could make the shadows of the world disappear for a moment was something Lincoln would always try to understand.

"So how is she?" asked Lori.

"Screaming, cussing, sweating and in a lot of pain… so normal, I guess." His shoulders shrugged like a weak bird taking flight.

"Did she say she hated you?"

Lincoln chuckled and nodded. "I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you said the same thing to Bobby."

"Oh, please. I said so much worse. The day I gave birth was the day Bobby Santiago regretted teaching me all those Spanish curses." Lori's own giggle came to a musical end before she said, "So are you still nervous?"

"Nervous? Who, me? Nervous? No, I couldn't… like you can't believe," he admitted.

She patted his shoulder affectionately. "If it helps, you're more than welcome to take some of the baby stuff Bobby bought. Well, the baby girl stuff he bought. I mean, assuming Jordan has a girl, of course."

"You know, I once suggested we call the baby 'Jordan', so that whether it's a boy or a girl, the name works. Sorta like how 'Lynn' works in our family. She didn't really like the idea. Got a nice slug in the arm for suggesting that."

An especially loud scream emanated from Jordan's room and traveled down the hall. Lincoln cringed at the pained sound. "You'd think with modern medicine, they'd find a way to make it less… painful," he remarked in a voice dripping with guilt. As far as he - and her parents - were concerned, _he_ was the reason she was in so much pain.

"Funny thing about pregnancy pain… it's supposed to be one of the most painful things a human being could ever experience. I believe one metaphor that was used was 'imagine if every bone in your body was broken at once'. But despite that," Lori paused, a smile crawling on her painted lips, "the first thing that a woman thinks about when it's all over isn't herself. She doesn't worry if she's okay. She worries whether the baby she just brought into the world is okay."

Albert blew a wet raspberry, and Lori smiled down at her child. "Yes, that means you, little Al-Al. You hurt Mommy a lot, but it's okay because of how cute you are."

"You know, it's still a bit weird when I realize that you're the same person as the phone-addicted senior years ago."

Lori rolled her eyes. "What, do you need me to litter my sentences with 'literally' and 'twerp' every five seconds?"

"Nah," Lincoln said, shaking his head. "Just trying to make small talk and keep my mind off-"

"How things are going in there?"

"I was going to say how Jordan's dad looks like he wants to take me to a room with no witnesses, but yeah, that works too."

Suddenly, the loud ruckus down the hall died down. Everyone went quiet, waiting for a professional to arrive. They heard footsteps, and around the corner came a nurse. Lincoln gulped when he saw blood on her gloves and smock. That was normal, right? Right?!

"Lincoln Loud?"

"R-Right here," he raised his hand hesitantly.

She beckoned him to come with her, and with a final look of confidence from Lori, and a cheerful cry from his nephew, Lincoln took a deep breath and began to follow her. Every footstep she took reverberated through the hall, while his footsteps were more faint, as if he were floating rather than walking.

The nurse led him back to the room, and gestured for him to go in. He wet his lips, and with shaking hands, peeled the door open. A doctor stepped out just as Lincoln tried to enter, so he jumped to the side. The doctor met the teen's eyes, and he gave him a soft smirk. "I don't wanna condone teen pregnancy," he said, "but congratulations, son."

"_Congratulations_?" Lincoln repeated, in a voice so soft even he couldn't hear it. Then his eyes widened, and his smile grew so long it stretched from ear to ear.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Lincoln repeated again, this time in a voice so loud everyone in the hospital could hear it.

He couldn't help himself. He hugged the doctor. He didn't even care that he stained his own clothes.

He burst through the door, an excited blur of orange. His wide smile grew even wider when he saw the beautiful sight. Behind a flowing, silky curtain was Girl Jordan. Her hair was a mess, her clothes even messier, and her face blotched with red and pink. But her expression… it was calm and soothing, and her eyes were aimed not at the doctors, nor at Lincoln, but at something sitting in her lap, wrapped in a soft pink blanket.

When she looked up to meet Lincoln's eyes, he saw the tears that shone in them.

"It's a girl, Lincoln. It's a girl."

* * *

**If there's one thing the Loud House stands for, it's family. Family runs deep in the DNA of both the show and the fandom it has spawned. I'm not the first one to write a story where one of the Loud siblings forms a family of his or her own, nor will I be the last. **

**I know that some of will expect me to write about the Jordcoln family and their child...but I won't (maybe in another story in the far future, but not now, not here). The purpose of this story is in the title: Jordan's confession(s) and Lincoln's reactions to them.**

**Thank you for following this story to the end. I apologize for taking a huge hiatus in the middle, so thank you for being patient with me. I haven't decided which story I want to publish next (and even less idea about what I actually want to **_**write **_**next), but whatever I decide, I hope I'll see you then.**


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